Caferati

Indie Comix Fest @ Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan March 15 Delhli 11 am - 8 pm

River of Stories by Orijit Sen

A page from River of Stories by Orijit Sen, showing a protest at the Rewa river. "We oppose all those who, in the name of development, commit crimes against humanity by tearing apart this earth for their own short-term gains ... We will face them with the courage of truth and non-violence!"

Orijit Sen will be speaking at Indie Comix Fest Delhi on Sunday. We'll be there at a table with copies of his classic book RIVER OF STORIES as well as some other graphic novel selections!

On a neon orange background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Goa Spotlight Below, the headline: A woman’s (work)place Below, a subhead: How Goa has changed for working women Next, the session date: 8 March Next, a circular window with a portrait of the presenter, in black-and-white. Next to that, the presenter’s name: Pallavi Arondekar And below that, a descriptor: Non-profit professional, seeker Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. IST, online.

On a neon green background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Goa spotlight Below, the headline: Days of our lives Below, a subhead: The everyday lives of half of Goa’s residents Next, the session date: 8 February Next, a circular window where usually is a portrait of the presenter, an image showing a camera. Next to that, where the presenter’s name usually appears: Multiple photographer And below that, a descriptor: Curated by Frederick Noronha Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. IST, online.

This Sunday, 8 March, we turn our spotlight to Goa, and in honour or International Women’s Day, we zoom in to women at work in Goa.
We also have an open call for up-and-coming photographers as part of this TGP Sessions.
More: thegoaproject.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/b...

I think that we’re beginning to remember that the first poets didn’t come out of a classroom, that poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, “Ahhh.” That was the first poem.
~ Lucille Clifton

#PoetsOnPoetry

Share your poetry books!

WE NEED MORE BOOKS FOR OUR LIBRARY
Order a book today from our Amazon Wishlist- amazon.in/hz/wishlist/... and help us keep learning alive in places where libraries are yet to reach. You can also contribute monetarily here- rzp.io/rzp/lctrEUfg or UPI- amf@hdfcbank

#SupportFreeLibrary

Romanised Pali manuscript of the Lokapannati

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India p. 60 Bhoota Vahana Yanta Bhoota Vahana Yanta means “spirit movement machine.” The term is used for several varieties of robot drone assassins and sword-wielding machine- men mentioned in the Lokapannati, a Pali-language text written between 1000 and 1200 CE by Saddhammaghosa of Thaton, but concerning events that took place much earlier, around 500 to 200 BCE. According to the story, robots were first invented by engineers of the early Roman Republic. These robots were used for commerce, in agriculture, as a police force, and as executioners. The secret of how to build these spirit-engines was fiercely protected. If any engineer dared to take the designs out of the city, one of his own executioner robots would come after him and kill him. At that time, in Pataliputra (then in the kingdom of Magadha, now Patna in the state of Bihar), there lived a young man who had heard of the Romans’ magical androids. He became so determined to learn the secrets of their manufacture and share them with the people of Magadha that he arranged his own death. Then, on his deathbed, he vowed to be reincarnated as a Roman. This indeed took place. In his new life, the man grew up to join the Roman guild of engineers. He even married the daughter of the Master Robot-Maker, and had a son by her. Once he learned the secrets of the Bhoota Vahana Yanta, the man resolved to transfer the information back to Pataliputra. But he was well aware that now, since he was a member of the guild, he would be killed as soon as he left. So he cut a gash in his thigh, inserted the plans in his flesh, and sewed the wound back up.

When I was researching my book Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India, I learned of a 1000-year-old myth about Roman tech being used to build killer robots to guard the Buddha's remains in Pataliputra, and a Hungarian folklorist read my book & got excited about it, & she managed to dig up a🧵(1/3)

Faux neon graphic that has a border in neon purple and reads “TBB Writer’s Chat” in neon purple. White text reads “Introduce Yourself!” followed by “#TBBChat” in neon purple.

Welcome to #TBBChat. I’m Madeleine (@monstersandmaidens.bsky.social), author of Graft and Honeycomb Heart, & this week’s host. Let’s start: Tell us about yourself, and meet others!

Quote post & use the tag #TBBChat so others can find you.

Save self-promo for the outro.

#BookBazaar25

The city’s longest-running open mic. Free for both audience and performers.

I’m hosting tomorrow.

Registration starts on the spot at around 6:45: show up and put your name on the board. The first 20 people are guaranteed a slot.

Event starts 7:00 p.m. . Come! Bring friends. Tell others.

#BomSky

At Prithvi Theatre Café on Monday. @zigzackly.bsky.social is hosting this month.
Come, bring friends. Spread the word

The longest-running #OpenMic in the #MMR.
#Bombay #Mumbai #Bambai #Poetry #Storytelling #Songs #Stand-upComedy

I’m hosting this session.
Come if you’re in the area and have the time?

(Like all open mics, quality is a matter of luck on the day, but Prithvi is a vibe on its own.)

Free Libraries Network - India & South Asia

India Street Lettering by Pooja Saxena

So far Kickstarter backers of @matratype.bsky.social's INDIA STREET LETTERING book project have donated 24 copies of the book to the Free Libraries Network!

Available as an Add-On when you pledge your support!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Caferati Listings The essentials. Caferati Listings carries opportunities for writers — calls for entries and submissions to contests and anthologies...

Sent out a substantial bunch of writing opportunities this weekend. Catch them all at:

groups.google.com/group/Cafera...

t.me/CaferatiList...

whatsapp.com/channel/0029...

And you can share opportunities you know about via this form: bit.ly/caf-listings...

@caferati.bsky.social

I recall being floored by a prose poem called "Husband" many years ago, and I want to read it again. It was by an Asian-American writer, possibly queer. Can you help me find it, please?

As One Listens to the Rain, by Octavio Paz YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,
water that is air, air that is time,
the day is still leaving,
the night has yet to arrive,

As One Listens to the Rain, by Octavio Paz. Read by Jincy Varghese.

How to Read a Poem: Beginner's Manual, by Pamela Spiro Wagner YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

Treat a poem like dirt,
humus rich and heavy from the garden.
Later on it will become the fat tomatoes
and golden squash piled high upon your kitchen table

How to Read a Poem: Beginner's Manual, by Pamela Spiro Wagner. Read by Neha Kudchadkar.

On a yellow background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Showcase Below, the headline: Laugh lines Below, a subhead: An open mic for comedy Next, the session date: 29 June Next, a circular window, which frames a picture of a microphone, and besides it, a name: You And below that, a descriptor: An amateur stand-up comic Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

On a yellow background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Showcase Below, the headline: L.O.L. Below, a subhead: Lots Of Learning: a comedy workshop Next, the session date: 16–17 June Next, a circular window, framing a portrait of the presenter, and a name: Aditi Mittal And below that, a descriptor: Comedian, actor, writer, teacher Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Next in our open platform showcase series: an open mic for amateur stand-up comedians. The best submissions get a feedback and tips session with an expert mentor, Aditi Mittal, before they take their turn at the mic.
Read all about it: thegoaproject.wordpress.com/2025/06/02/l...

A bildungsroman, by Rituja Patil YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

We are the same, this land and I -
Wilfully ignorant of being at the risk
of being burnt down by an inferno of logged water.

~ A bildungsroman by @chamelea.bsky.social

#poetryinparks #poem

youtu.be/wv694kGqHxE

First Deluge Of The Season, by Sampurna Chattarji YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

It’s business as usual as the trees fall
The roofs cave in and the sewers burst.
Take no notice, you in your towers
Where the light gentles all storms.

~ First Deluge Of The Season, by Sampurna Chattarji

(read by @mumbaipaused.bsky.social)

#poetryinparks #poem #pausaala #powergela

The End and the Beginning, by Wislawa Szymborska YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won’t
straighten themselves up, after all.

Someone has to push the rubble
to the side of the road,
so the corpse-filled wagons
can pass.

~The End and the Beginning
Wislawa Szymborska (translated by Joanna Trzeciak)

Read by Anu

#poetryinparks #poem

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, by Mosab Abu Toha YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

The drone’s buzzing sound,
the roar of an F-16,
the screams of bombs falling on houses,
on fields, and on bodies,
of rockets flying away—
rid my small ear canal of them all.

~ Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, by @mosababutoha.bsky.social

read by Deepti Khera.

#PoetryforPalestine #NakbaDay

[Extract from Why Loiter], by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, Shilpa Ranade YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

Imagine our streets full of women, talking, strolling, laughing and gesticulating. Visualise parks and beaches dotted with young women sitting alone. Imagine street corners taken over by old women reflecting on the state of the world.

~ from @whyloiter.bsky.social read by Sukrity G

#poetryinparks

[Extract from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath] YouTube video by Poetry in Parks

Yet, God, I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night...

~ from the journals of Sylvia Plath

read by Garima S.

#poetryinparks

Heaven Looks Like Us: An Evening of Palestinian Poetry Virtual Launch Event Thursday, May 15 5:00 pm CT Rasha A. LDA A Dina Abdulhadi Leena Aboutaleb George abraham Rimona Afana Fadia Antabli Summer Awad Asmaa’ Azaizeh Farah Barqawi Sarona Bedwan Carolina Ebeid Olivia Elias Summer Farah Layla Azmi Goushey Maen Hammad noor hindi Lenna Jawdat Emily Khilfeh N Mankinem Angie Mazakis Hajer Mirwali Sara Saleh Hind Shoufani Jen Siraganian Rewa Zeinati Omar Zahzah

Heaven Looks Like Us: An Evening of Palestinian Poetry 🇵🇸

Join @intifadabatata.bsky.social, @noorhindi.bsky.social, and contributors to the new Palestinian poetry anthology Heaven Looks Like Us for a virtual reading in commemoration of Nakba Day.

RSVP to join:
www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...

Monday, 28th.
Come.
Register on the spot.

#WorldBookDay

Quote this post with a picture of the book you are #NowReading.

#WorldBookDay

Quote this post with a picture of the last book you bought.

The image is a flyer for a book launch. The book is The Comeback, by Annie Zaidi. The image has a picture of the book on one side, and below, mugshots of the author, moderator for the event, and the performers. (Details below, from an accompanying email.) 🎭 John K. had it all—until his ego wrecked his best friend Asghar’s life. Now, in the quiet town of Baansa, can their mutual love of the stage offer them both a second chance? Annie Zaidi’s new novel, _The Comeback_, is a powerful story of friendship, betrayal, forgiveness and.... theatre Join us for the Mumbai launch, and watch it come to life through performed excerpts by *Chandan Roy Sanyal, Gagan Riar, Rajit Kapur, and Vivek Madan.* The author will also be in conversation with *Anahita Uberoi* about ambition, fame, the theatre and the lasting ties it forges. 🗓️ Monday, 21 April ⏰ 7:30 PM 📍 Prithvi Theatre *RSVP now:* https://www.litlive.in/literature-live-evenings/the-comeback

Comrade of decades Annie Zaidi has a new book out. The Bombay launch event is this coming Monday. Free, but prior registration is required. www.litlive.in/literature-l...

Just hit me that I can say that I have friends via Caferati (and Ryze, the first post-blogs social networking site for many of us in India, where Caferati first took shape) for decades. Plural. Like more than 20 years. 🧓🏾

And, come 2007, 2008, that will be true of Fb and Twitter pals.