The 2nd edition of Bengaluru Poetry Festival was held on August 5 and 6, 2017 at The Leela Palace, Bengaluru. The festival has once again attracted a number of internationally recognised poets and artistes for a weekend of incredible poetry performances for literary connoisseurs of the city. The inaugural edition of the BPF saw performances, readings, discussions and debates by Javed Akhtar, Piyush Mishra, Prathibha Nandakumar, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Kutti Revathi, Varun Gandhi, Teejan Bai and many others. Subodh and Lakshmi, the founders of Atta Galatta – the Bookstore and Events Space, realised that while poetry as a form of self-expression was gaining immense popularity, and Indian poets and poetry were increasingly being recognised the world over, there
were limited opportunities available for poets within the existing literary festival platforms. So they, along with a core team of poets and poetry lovers, conceptualised BPF as a celebration of all things poetry. The festival provides a space for verse to be engaged with — by poets, readers, performers and the audience — across forms, formats and languages. The festival included poetry performances, talks on poetry and opportunities to learn through workshops and interactive sessions. The festival team includes Shinie Antony, Amruta Dongray, Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury, Prashant Sankaran, Shikha Saklani Malaviya, Sourav Roy, Vikram Sridhar, Subodh Sankar and Lakshmi Subodh.
