Discover how your poetry can reach thousands of people across the world

April 18th- 20th 2025

Online 

Namaste 🙏 I'm Saumya, a poet and publisher based in New Delhi. 

I started my journey in the literary world ten years ago. At the age of 17, I wrote poems but struggled to find readers. I tried everything- from starting an online blog to writing to the big publishing names- Harper Collins, Penguin, Random House... only to receive polite rejection letters that my work didn't fit into their publishing cycle. 

So I threw an event at Kunzum Cafe, called all my friends and family (and their friends too)- and bingo, if they didn't want to read me, at least they could listen to me!

And that's how I started building a following.

With some convincing involved, I got other poets to perform, alongside me.

I booked auditoriums, sports grounds, and the events got bigger and better each time! 

Since then to now, I've hosted 144 events, under my organization Delhi Poetry Slam. I've worked with American Cultural Centre, German Cultural Centre, French Institute and you-name-it.

I've published books that sold 15,000 copies in a month, and became Amazon bestsellers. 

What I know, for sure:

Words live, they travel far. 

If you're someone whose first love is poetry and you've got recognition (that's how I was able to reach you & I love your work), but wants to connect with readers across the latitude and longitude of our world...

Watch invitation on why you should join me! 

Your Invitation to World Poetry Project 2025

Because poetry has always had the tremendous potential to connect people, it's about time we acknowledge how our words can touch the minds and hearts of readers worldwide.  

It's fascinating to think how Rumi—the Persian poet and Sufi master, is the most best-selling poet of the United States. Likewise on the other side of the world in India, teenagers every year draw inspiration from the feminist poet Maya Angelou taught in schools. 

This only proves that poetry, with its innate ability to shed light on the complex human experience, resonates with people everywhere. We are not divided. So we must try to build a bridge, so that our words travel far and wide.

Why be limited to just one city? Or one country? 

When your poetry can reach corners of the whole world: 

✔️ Share Your Poetry

During the live event, I invite you to read out your poetry and share what inspires you with the group. Fostering cross-cultural collaboration between the East and West is our mission.

✔️ Global Networking

Join hands with radiant poets from India, Australia, USA, Nigeria and Philippines in spreading the light which is poetry. 

✔️ Online Sessions 

Let's dive into technical tips to broaden the horizons of sharing. I cover everything from publishing, selling copies and travelling the world for readings. 

✔️ Publication

I'd be honoured if you would contribute three poems to the World Poets anthology. 

This gigantic poetic catalogue is a testimony to the richness of human experience— across races, nationalities, cultures. 

Schedule

Held on the third weekend of National Poetry Month– April 18th (Friday), April 19th (Saturday) and April 20th (Sunday) via Zoom at the timings mentioned below.

I totally understand that your schedule doesn’t always work out for you to take a session at the exact time they are offered. Or something comes up last minute!

No worries, we have you covered! We record our Virtual Sessions so they can be played back later. You receive the playback link after it’s processed. 

Registrations for the event have now closed.

If you have registered or need help with logging in, please contact saumya@delhipoetryslam.com

Meet your host... that's me! 

It's Saumya Choudhury here 😊 I'm the founder of Delhi Poetry Slam, an independent organization making waves in the literary landscape in South Asia. A poet, publisher and arts residency manager, I've been the award recipient of Gulen Institute Youth Platform at Washington D.C  in USA and the prestigious 35th Y. Kumar Award for International Understanding presented to me by the late politician Sitaram Yechury. I've partnered with global organizations such as Poetry Slam For Peace founded by Laurence Singer in New York, Cultural Humane Art of Science (ChaOS) by Sinisa Rudan in Serbia, and most recently, French Institute in India.

I've managed tours, residencies and made friendships (along the way) with poets from different parts of the world. Nurturing a global community of poets, who can access new markets, is a vision very close to my heart. Are you in?

World Poets Anthology

With special contributions by my poetic friends of Indian diaspora, Nandana and Shruti, the anthology is a culmination of defining ideas of our times.

Special Features

Nandana Dev Sen

American actress, poet and daughter of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and acclaimed Bengali writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen

Lives in New York, USA

Success Stories of International Collaboration

Since a decade, I have helped international poets in touring India and publishing their poetry.

Here are some of my favourite moments:

Neal Hall

Neal Hall, a poet from the United States, received $1400 (One Lakh Indian rupees) as an advance to commission his poetry book The Systems We Caste and winning Wingword Poetry Prize 2020's international edition. The prize is fully sponsored by Delhi Poetry Slam. 

We selected his work because of his focus on systematic oppression towards women in India and Dalits, the untouchables. Given his hypersensitivity to suffering, he has been able to empathize with the lowest of the low strata in Indian society — while giving them a voice, dignity and hope for change.

Graduate of Cornell and Harvard Universities, Neal Hall is an acclaimed poet who has composed poetry and performed readings in the U.S. and internationally.  Hailed as the Malcolm X of poetry, Hall is a poet of intellectual passion and artistic significance.  His poetry consistently champions socio-economic and socio-political issues pertinent to social advocacy.  

The Systems We Caste is available to read for free on our website

Nandana Dev Sen

New-York based poet and actress, Nandana Dev Sen received $1,000 (Eighty Five Thouasnd Rupees) for conducting a workshop at Delhi Poetry Slam and winning the Wingword Poetry Prize 2022's international edition.

Her program Workshop Your Poems spontaneously delivered feedback to the poets' works, helping them craft more polished poems. The workshop was attended by participants of all ages, from the youngest being a pre-teen to the oldest being a retired government official of age 75. A few enthusiasm participants had travelled from the distant cities of Sahranpur, Patna and Kolkata to attend the workshop. 

Kyle Louw & Ikenna Onyegbula

I invited two poets  — Ikenna Onyegbula, a poet of Nigerian descent and Kyle Louw, a South African poet for a fully funded three-months long artist residency in 2016. The residency provided them with a monthly stipend, accommodation and covered inter-city flights.

During their residency, they had the opportunity to conduct weekend workshops for youth poets at Delhi Poetry Slam, teach at Springdales School and tour for readings in the cities Ahmedabad and Dharamshala. The residency enabled the poets Kyle and Ikenna to collaborate with artists and organizers on a variety of literary projects, and receive press coverage, while seeking creative inspiration through the organized chaos that India stands for.

JustJamaal The Poet 

JustJamaal The Poet, a Canadian poet, was invited to India to teach at writing retreats consecutively three times, held first at a Portugese villa by the riverside in Goa (2015), secondly at a eco-resort in Rajasthan (2016) and finally at a heritage bungalow in Jaipur (2023).  

 

As a poet, Jamaal was selected to be Ottawa's first English Poet Laureate after 27 years in which the position had gone unfilled, while his career in arts education has earned him 2016's Ontario Arts Educator Award. 

His relationship with Delhi Poetry Slam began in 2015 whenI called him to teach expressive poetry in an intimate writing retreat for youth in Goa. His next fully paid teaching project was offered to him in 2016, where two separate batches of teen poets and youth poets were guided to write and perform their works without inhibitions. In 2023, our friendship grew even more: he was called once again to mentor poets on how to infuse raw authenticity and not be afraid of social norms at a 19th-century restored haveli in Jaipur.

Christia Madacsi, Javon Rustin and Timothy E.G. Bartel

In 2022, American poets Christia Madacsi, Javon Rustin and Timothy E.G. Bartel participated virtually in a cross-cultural dialogue with young Indian poets.

In partnership with American Cultural Centre, the event was attended by a live audience size of 200 people in New Delhi. Powerful themes of racism, social inclusion and free speech were explored during the showcase.

We were all surprised in many ways. While on the Indian front   — we seemed to commonly read many American poets from Walt Whitman to Frank o-Hara, it was voted that on the American front   — there was little know-how of non-Western poetry.

Peeping into the varied expressions of poetry, as performed by US poets Christia, Javon, Timothy and the Indian poets, it was a good starting point to cross boundaries in artistic collaboration. 

Eeva Maria al-Khazaali

Eeva Maria al-Khazaali, a poet from Finland, was invited to conduct a workshop More Love Letters Please at Delhi Poetry Slam's headquarters (2023).

During this workshop, participants developed new ways of interpreting feelings and visual stimulation, leading to evolution of their works.