Indian poetry and Indian literature in general, has a long history dating back to Vedic times. They were written in various Indian languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit, Ancient Meitei, Modern Meitei, Telugu, Tamil, Odia, Maithili, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Marathi and Urdu among other prominent languages. Poetry in foreign languages such as English also has a strong influence on Indian poetry. The poetry reflects diverse spiritual traditions within India. In particular, many Indian poets have been inspired by mystical experiences. Poetry is the oldest form of literature and has a rich written and oral tradition.
Jayanta Mahapatra was an Indian poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He was the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature. He was awarded a Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009, but he returned the award in 2015 to protest against rising intolerance in India.
K. Ayyappa Paniker, sometimes spelt Ayyappa Panicker, was a Malayalam poet, literary critic, and an academic and a scholar in modern and post-modern literary theories as well as ancient Indian aesthetics and literary traditions. He was one of the pioneers of modernism in Malayalam poetry, where his seminal works like Kurukshethram (1960), is considered a turning point in Malayalam poetry. Many of Ayyappa Paniker's poems and his several essays were an important influence on later generations of Malayalam writers. His poems often reflected his deep concern for the environment with works such as Kadevide Makkale -Malayalam കാടെവിടെ മക്കളെ
Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is considered the first poet in the lineage of Indian English poetry followed by Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and Toru Dutt, among others.
Gopikrishnan Kottoor is the pen name of Raghav G. Nair, an Indian English poet. He is best known for his poem "Father, Wake Us In Passing". He is also the founder editor of quarterly poetry journal Poetry Chain. Kottoor lives in Trivandrum, Kerala.
Smita Agarwal is an Indian poet and a professor of English literature at the University of Allahabad, India.
The Poetry Society (India) was formed in July 1984 at New Delhi as a voluntary association to promote Indian poetry and to look after the interests of Indian Poets. The founding members included the Indian poets Keshav Malik, J P Das, H K Kaul and Lakshmi Kannan. The Society conducts seminars, creative writing workshops, reading and publication of poetry journal and anthologies. It also conducts All India Poetry Competitions, including competitions among school children.
"Father, Wake Us In Passing", is an internationally acclaimed poem by the Indian English poet Gopi Kottoor. The poem is a unique work of art, peerless in its genre in modern Indian literature. It has been translated into German as Vater, wecke' uns im Vorübergehen. It is among the better known poems in modern Indian English literature.
Poetry Chain is an English poetry journal of India published quarterly from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The Indian English poet Gopi Kottoor is its founder editor. The journal was founded in 1997 with the mentoring of the Indian poet Ayyappa Paniker, who was involved with the journal until his death in 2007. In 2009 it was relaunched as online-only publication.
"Madras Central" is an English poem and the best known work of Vijay Nambisan, the Indian poet, writer and journalist. The poem won First Prize in the inaugural All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1988. The poem has received critical acclaim following its first publication in 1989.
"A Farmer's Ghost" is a popular English poem by the Indian poet and writer Anju Makhija. The poem won First Prize in the Fifth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1994. The poem has been widely cited and anthologised in reputed journals and scholarly volumes on contemporary Indian poetry.
"Birds of North Europe" is a poem by Tabish Khair, the internationally acclaimed Indian English author and journalist. The poem won First Prize in the Sixth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. The poem brought the first major literary award for Tabish Khair, who is better known as a novelist of repute.
"Portrait of a Lady" is a poem by the Indian English poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote. The poem won First Prize in the Seventh All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. The poem brought the second major literary award for Hoskote, who also won the Sanskriti Award for Literature in 1996 and the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for lifetime achievement in 2005.
"In Santacruz, Diagnosed Home Sick" is a poem by the Indian English poet and novelist K Srilata. The poem won First Prize in the Eighth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1998. This was the first major literary award for Srilata, who subsequently won the Unison British Council Award and Charles Wallace Fellowship for Poetry.
"I Would Know You Anywhere" is an Indian poem on the popular Hindu god Ganesha by the Indian English poet Revathy Gopal. The poem won Second Prize in the Ninth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 2000. This was the second major literary award for Revathy, who had also won second prize in the eighth All India Poetry Competition.
"The Coffin Maker" is a poem by the Indian English poet Gopi Krishnan Kottoor. The poem won Second Prize in the Sixth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. This was the first major literary award for Kottoor, who went on to win four more major poetry awards at All India Poetry Competition.
"Punarnava" is a popular award-winning poem by the noted Indian English poet and literary critic Rajlukshmee Debee Bhattacharya. The poem won First Prize in the Third All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1991. The poem has been widely cited and anthologised in reputed journals and scholarly volumes on contemporary Indian poetry.
Vihang A. Naik or Vihang Ashokbhai Naik is a modern bilingual poet from Gujarat, India. He has authored many collections of poetry in English and Gujarati, besides translating poems from Gujarati into English. He died in the year 2021.
All India Poetry Prize was instituted by Poetry Society of India in 1988. The prizes are awarded to the best single work of poetry submitted by an Indian poet. The number of prizes varies from year to year.