In 1986, when late Nitin Mukadam called Menka Shivdasani to ask if there was an audience for poetry, she was sceptical, having heard senior poets express doubt. Later, on a quest to find the answer, Mukadam, Shivdasani, and Akil Contractor, three young poets at the time, met at the Parisian Café near Shivdasani’s office in Fort. They agreed that there was a need for an organisation which could offer poets a space to ‘share their work, hone their craft, and find a community’. This is how Poetry Circle was born nearly four decades ago.

At the first Poetry Circle 2.0 workshop. Pics courtesy/Peter Griffin, Menka Shivdasani