Poetry anthology on capital cities edited by Indian poet-diplomat launched in London

CAPITALS, a poetry anthology on the capital cities of the world edited by poet-diplomat Abhay K. was launched at SOAS, University of London yesterday with readings by George Szirtes, Clive Wilmer, Michael Glover, Ahsan Akbar, Saradha Soobrayen, Mathura, Steven J. Fowler and Abhay K.

Abhay K. was introduced by by Frances Grahl of SOAS, University of London. She began by reading his poem on San Marino from the anthology and termed the anthology a pioneering work.

George Szirtes read his poem on Budapest. He also read poems on Singapore by Alvin Pang and on London by Moniza Alvi. Michael Glover read his poem on Paris and a poem on Jerusalem by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

 

Poet Mathura from Estonia read his poem on Stockholm and a poem on Vaduz by Mathias Ospelt. Saradha Soobrayen read her poem on Port Louis- the capital of Mauritius and a poem on Damascus by Ruth Padel.

Clive Wilmer read his poem on Buenos Aires. Steven J. Fowler read his poem on Freetown and a poem on Tashkent by Hamid Ismailov.

Ahsan Akbar read his poem on Dhaka. Abhay K. read his poems on Rabat, Brasilia and Delhi. He also read poems on Pyongyang by Alex Bramwell, Tokyo by Jan Napier and Ougadougou by Andy Knowlton at the launch.

Responding to a question by Francesca Orisini of SOAS, University of London, on why the anthology included only capital cities and not other cities, Abhay K. responded that the number of capital cities are well below 200 which was a manageable size for an anthology.

He added that he hoped that someone someday would create a poetry atlas of our planet taking inspiration from the CAPITALS.