Rati Dady Wadia, former Principal, Queen Mary School, graciously hosted the twelfth edition of the poetry festival – ‘100 Thousand Poets for Change’ (100TPC), curated by Menka Shivdasani, and held at Kitab Khana, on 18^th and 19^th November, 2023. Returning to live format after three online editions, the fest was held in memory of Michael Rothenberg, Co-Founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, whose first death anniversary was November 21, 2023.

Events included poets participating in a multilingual reading, Mumbai’s schoolchildren presenting poems and artwork on the environment, a play by the well-known children’s author – Katie Bagli, titled ‘Long Live the Ocean’, musical performances, etc. It was presided by Chief Guest – award-winning author, Pervin Saket, and the Guest of Honour was Cdre Vombatkere. Participating schools included Activity High School, J.B. Petit High School for Girls, The Somaiya School and Queen Mary School.

This year saw the release of, ‘The Smiling Face, the Child and Birdsong’, the fourth book of poems written by schoolchildren in Mumbai. Menka Shivdasani spoke about a path-breaking book, 100 Thousand Poets for Change: 10+ Years of Poetic Activism, A Collective Memory (2011-2023), which traces the history of the movement worldwide and analyses its impact. It includes an essay by Menka Shivdasani about the poetry festivals in Mumbai as well as an article by Parsi Times which speaks about the first online Mumbai poetry festival in 2020.