A few months back when the students of Gems Modern Academy in Dubai visited Future Hope — an NGO for underprivileged children — no one realised that a poetry book would emerge as a result. But a chance workshop by poet Joie Bose got the children, nearly 40 of them, stretching their creativity to amazing lengths and what emerged was a beautiful collection titled A Feeling Called Hope. This 42-poem collection, edited by Ashok Viswanathan and Swarupa Chatterjee, complementing some beautiful drawings by the Future Hope children was recently launched at the Oxford Bookstore, published by Exceller Books, in front of a motley crowd.
For Sonali (Nature’s Beauty) and Piu (I Will Get Better), two of the Future Hope children who read their poems, it was an evening that began shyly for them and then a pouring of emotions when they read their pieces. Jasmine, another Future Hope student who had contributed her drawing to the collection, was praised for her effort.
“Poetry is about baring your innermost self without giving clues of your outer self. This is where souls connect and this is what inspired the collection,” said Bose, whose daylong workshop provoked the young minds to pen their latent thoughts. According to Swarupa Chatterjee, the collection captures the joys of so many young souls. Present on the occasion were founder of Exceller Books, Sudipta Ghosh, former sheriff of Kolkata Utpal Chatterjee and Sujata Sen, CEO, Future Hope. The collections are available in Exceller Books’ website and Amazon.