Small audiences at poetry events - a discussion

[peter griffin]

Background: At the Bombay launch of 50 Poets 50 Poems, attendance was low; Priya says there were more press than audience members there, I counted a dozen people, aside from the eight people on stage, the young man who was helping sell the books, and the chai lad.

The principals in this discussion have agreed to put this up on the Caferati blog and invite a larger discussion. We're hoping that you folks could bring in your take on the topic; your opinions, your perspectives from different events in different cities. Feel free to comment, or to mail any or all of us.

~peter

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Priya Chabria's original mail,
Annie Zaidi's reply,
a short reply from Priya C,
in which your correspondent drones on and on and on.,
Sampurna Chattarji's take,
some more thoughts from Annie,
Vivek Narayan's view.

[peter griffin]

If you followed the discussion in this set of posts (and a later addition from Vivek Narayanan), you might find this interesting: Pleasure or Punishment: Hearing a Poet Read by X.J. Kennedy [Link courtesy Annie Zaidi, who got it from Michael Creighton.]

~p

On 06/03/2008, peter griffin <zigz...@gmail.com> wrote:

Below, please find the texts of an email debate initiated by Priya Sarukkai Chabria.

Background: At the Bombay launch of 50 Poets 50 Poems, attendance was low; Priya says there were more press than audience members there, I counted a dozen people, aside from the eight people on stage, the young man who was helping sell the books, and the chai lad.

The principals in this discussion have agreed to put this up on the Caferati blog and invite a larger discussion. We're hoping that you folks could bring in your take on the topic; your opinions, your perspectives from different events in different cities. Feel free to comment, or to mail any or all of us.

~peter

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-1.html - Priya's original mail

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-2.html - Annie's reply

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-3.html - a short reply from Priya

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-4.html
 - in which your correspondent drones on and on and on.

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-5.html - Sampurna's take

http://caferati.blogspot.com/2008/03/poetry-audiences-discussion-part-6.html - some more thoughts from Annie

Do pass around and invite further contributions, either in the comments to each post or via email.

~peter