Going 20 years back to the inception of Poetrywala Foundation, a poetry publishing movement, founders and poets Smruti Divate and Hemant Divate tell us that it was writer Dilip Chitre who suggested the platform, name and its logo after translating Hemant’s book of poems titled Choutishiparyantchya Kavita in 2003 as Virus Alert. Today and tomorrow, the second major edition of the Mumbai Poetry Festival celebrates two decades of Poetrywala publishing over 150 collected works and more than 80 poets in India and across the world. 

Smruti says, “In the early 2000s, there were few publishers for poetry and English translations. It was a niche market compared to [other genres].” Sharing her thoughts, she continued that unlike self-help books and similar genres that can be sold rather quickly, poetry moves at a slower pace but sustains you in the longer run.