Featured Poet: Vatsal Srivastava
Vatsal Srivastava recently published his debut collection of poetry Two Decades of Love. We recently had the opportunity to interview Vatsal about his creative process and new book.
Congratulations on releasing Two Decades of Love! What does this book mean to you?
This is my debut book and naturally very special to me! I tried to keep it simple and wrote on people who I speak to everyday and who are a big part of my life. So it’s also a very personal collection for me.
How did you become a poet?
I have always enjoyed writing since my undergraduate days and was a financial columnist for almost a decade. I don’t think I had ever planned to write poetry. I’m really an accidental poet. I was with my best friend in Turkey when I wrote my first poem. It was on a tree in Topkapi Palace! This was just an year ago! So you can see things happened really fast.
What does your workspace look like?
I’m not a full time writer. I work for a large media company. My workspace is plain vanilla but I do have a great view of the Mumbai skyline from my desk! As for my poetry workspace, I have written some of my favourite poems on my Iphone’s Wordpad!
What is your motivation for writing?
So far I have written mostly on my friends. I’m lucky most of them are complex individuals! Or at least I strongly feel that way...my favourite part is sending them the poems for their feedback and overall thoughts before I post them on my Instagram.
Has the coronavirus pandemic changed how you approach your craft?
Not really..but it has given me more time to read more poetry, learn more theory, listen to some podcasts and get the time to publish a book!
What does literary success look like to you?
Success for me is doing what you like to the best of your ability—I use this approach whether it be success at work, in relationships or in writing. Of course, I have so much to learn and add more to how I think and write. As long as I keep doing that, I would consider myself successful. I don’t have any particular metric for success per se in terms of a certain outcome.
Do you have any advice for poets looking to grow their audience?
Focus on the quality of your writing. Feel passionate about what you do. The audience will come!
Where can readers read more of your work?
My Instagram handle is fuzzypoems. You can buy my book on Amazon or Delhi Poetry Slam.
Check out Train River Poetry: Summer 2020 to read poetry by Vatsal Srivastava and to discover more poets.
