‘The Hundred Poets For Change’ book launch and poetry festival, held from 26^th to 29^th October, 2017, was a grand four day event curated by Menka Shivdasani and co-presented by Deepankar Khiwani. The key event commenced on Sunday morning at Kitab Khana, with host, conductor and Former Principal of Queen Mary School, Rati Dady Wadia welcoming the huge gathering comprising mainly of children and their kin.
Chief Guest for the book launch, Urvi Piramal unveiled ‘I Believe – Beauty is a Step of the Divine’ – an anthem of poetries written by students from various schools across Mumbai, accompanied with beautiful illustrations and an impressive cover designed by renowned children’s books author, Katie Bagli. An inspirational and encouraging speech by Urvi started off the much awaited Poetry Festival, ‘The Miracle of Life’.

This year the poetry festival was dedicated to the memory of Shanoor Sarosh Forbes who had overcome her extreme physical limitations to actively participant in all the festivals since 2012. Her absence was deeply felt. The event was graced by Chief Guest, prestigious lawyer and Shanoor’s cousin, Navroz Seervai, who delivered a touching tribute to Shanoor’s strength will, followed by forty students from numerous schools across the city reciting their poems within the time limit of two minutes, each. The event also witnessed students displaying their talents with various musical instruments. In all, it was one successful event for the talented youth of the current generation.