Editor Speak
March 2026
March unfolds like a quiet crescendo—after the applause of February, we return to the page with renewed attention. This edition of The Wise Owl lingers in the afterglow of celebration while turning toward deeper conversations: about poetry’s endurance and the voices that shape our literary present.
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At the heart of our March issue is a compelling interview with Akhil Katyal, winner of The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2026 in the Poetry segment for his luminous collection The Last Time I Saw You. In conversation, Katyal reflects on memory, intimacy, and the fragile architectures of love and loss that define his work. The dialogue moves beyond victory toward craft—toward the slow making of poems that dare to hold tenderness and truth in the same breath.
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Our Talking Books feature this month brings together Sivakami Velliangiri, Geetha Ravichandran, and Shikhandin in a vibrant exchange on their collaborative work Footnotes in G Sharp. Their conversation explores voice, rhythm, and the layered act of annotation—how marginalia can become music, and how literature thrives when it is shared.
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Our Reviews section is anchored, as always, in attentive reading. Radha Chakravarty offers a thoughtful review of Selected Poems by Gopal Lahiri, tracing the arc of a poetic life shaped by restraint and resonance. Emily Strauss turns her critical gaze to Within the Trifles by Marianne Brems, a collection that finds profundity in the smallest gestures and details. On screen, Ramandeep Mahal revisits Seven Dials, adapted from the work of Agatha Christie, examining how mystery continues to intrigue contemporary audiences while echoing the elegance of classic storytelling.
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A special feature celebrates The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2026, which honoured the top three voices in Poetry, Fiction, and Non-fiction. More than an awards ceremony, the event became a gathering of minds—a testament to the enduring vitality of literature across genres. The recordings of our sessions with the award-winning poets and writers are now available on our YouTube channel, extending the celebration beyond the printed page and into living dialogue.
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March, then, is both reflection and renewal. It asks us not only to applaud excellence but to listen closely to books that continue to speak long after we close them.
Our Daily Segment
The Daily Verse
To enjoy poetry everyday, take a look at The Daily Verse.
If you have a yen to share your poetry with our readers, just send in your submissions to editor@thewiseowl.art
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The Wise Owl Events
The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2025
The 1st edition of The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2025 was a resounding success. Catch some glimpses of the Event
The Wise Owl Poetry Collective 2025
The Wise Owl Collective on 30th August celebrated different voices across languages.
The Wise Owl Poetry Collective 2025
The Wise Owl Collective on 1st November celebrated different voices across languages.
The Birth of The Wise Owl
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The year was 2021. COVID-19 had upended our world and altered life as we knew it. Simple joys we once took for granted—meeting friends, shopping, watching films, being part of a crowd—had all been put on hold. I was then posted in Delhi as a senior IRS officer, managing work through the fog of uncertainty and loss.
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The pandemic’s toll was deeply personal. I lost a valued member of my staff—a hardworking office supervisor and cancer survivor—to COVID. Two of my colleagues, one of them a doctor who had volunteered at a Mohalla Clinic, also lost their battles. Another dear batchmate survived, but just barely. Conversations about the fragility of life, once philosophical musings, had suddenly become real and raw.
