Poems on the Road - Walking BookFairs tour of India

Since mid-December Walking BookFairs independent bookstore and publisher has embarked on a two month tour of 30 cities across India - Poems on the Road - taking a travelling bookstore of poetry with events, readings and open mic sessions.

Why only poems? “In India, it is difficult to find bookstores or libraries. We chose to travel with poetry books because you don’t find these in bookstores. No one is going to find 500 poetry books together anywhere else in the country. Furthermore, there are many young people who want to be poets but there are fewer poetry books and they don’t know what kind of poetry has been written."

That has been the idea: To take poetry books to people and give them a chance to browse through and read poetry by classic writers,” says co-founder Satabdi.Though the tour is entirely funded by the sale of books in the travelling bookstore, Walking Bookfairs has partnered with HarperCollins India, Pan Macmillan and Speaking Tiger, who are partly supporting the tour in terms of the books.The tour, which started on December 13, will travel to 30 cities across the country over two months.

“This is a travelling bookstore and library. People can browse, read and even buy the books. We hold open mic and poetry reading sessions wherever we stop. Local people are welcomed to share their thoughts, poetry and stories. The whole idea is to have something that can be shared in a public space and to create a democratic open space where everybody is welcome"

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