Diwakar Pokhriyal is a writer by passion and has written 12 books (one short story collection and 11 poetry books) as of now. He is a part of 75 poetry anthologies with poets around the world. His poems/stories are a part of various websites. He has won ‘Poiesis Award for Literature – 2014’ for his short story. He is a part of Limca Book of records 2015 as a contributor for the unique duet poetry anthology ‘Synthesis’. With a touch of music, he is a part of the GRV musical band as a rhythm guitarist and songwriter.
Diwakar completed B.Tech (Power Engineering) in 2008 from NPTI (NR) Badarpur. He also completed PGDM from Great Lakes Institute of Energy Management. He has worked as ‘Senior Sales Engineer’ in Green Power International Pvt Ltd for one year and as ‘Assistant Manager- Business Planning’ for 2 years in VEDANTA. Currently he is pursuing PhD in Energy Management.
Achievements (Awards) –
- Written 11 poetry and 1 short story books. Two poetry books (Zindagi Ki Kalam Se & Poetry for Everyone) are Best Selling in amazon.in website.
- Won ‘Poiesis Award for English Literature – 2014’ for my short story by xpresspublication.
- 18th position in Story Mirror-1 contest-2015 (out of 2040 entries)
- Team AAGMAN sammaan – 2014 and Smriti Chinh Team AAGMAN – 2015.
- Pushcart Award Nominee -2014.
What inspired you to start writing?
It all started with the fun. When I was in class 9, during my history period I wrote a Hindi story ‘Ek Bachhey Ki Kahani’ (Story of a child) in my small notebook pages. Those 12 pages were just the beginning of a never ending journey. At that point of time, neither I was aspiring writer nor was I introduced to creative writing. I used to read comics and magazines and I think reading all these magazines and comics made me a writer eventually, but it was not so conscious effort. I wrote my first poem when I was in 10th class and it was all fun. I used to write comical poems that used to spread smiles all around.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
I used to read a lot of comics and magazines (‘Raj comics’ or Diamond comics). I can recall now the heroes, Super Cammando Dhruv, Naagraj, Bhokal, Doga, Chacha Chowdhary & Sabu, Pinki, Billu, Shreemati, Raman, BaankeyLal, Parmaanu, Tiranga, Inspector Steel, Heman, . I have also read magazines like Champak, Nandan, Lotpot, Reader Digest, Science Reporter etc.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
The only challenge that I think is to sit and write about one idea. Your mind buzz with so many ideas and all of them seems so relevant at that time, but you say to yourself that you also have to complete that idea and it is really a challenge. Completing an idea in the form of a book takes a lot. It is the greatest challenge one is in as a writer. For once or twice you can complete a book with fun or lighter note, but writing continuously demands attention and a great deal of time with continual improvement.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
I have read many poetry books and have written a few. I have gone to various poetry events. I was literally surprised to know that even the known writers around me had no idea about poetry forms. As a youngster, I want to experiment and experimentation would only be possible when I would know the available choices. Thanks to Facebook and the internet, I started understanding different forms of poetry. It took close to a year for the completion of my books “Poetry for Everyone Vol-1 & 2”.
What motivated you to write the book “Poetry for Everyone”?
While writing and reading poetry for more than 10 years I have come across very few forms of poetry. No one would ever talk about poetry forms. I thought of learning poetry forms and searched about the book that describes the poetry forms, but I found none (especially by any Indian poet). I was in awe and then I started searching in the world of internet. I came across so many poetry forms and then this idea of writing a book with 50 forms of poetry came inside my mind. I believed in my love towards creative writing, poetry and the zeal of sharing these forms with the young minds. This inspired me to write these two books.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “Poetry for Everyone”?
Poetry for Everyone Volume 1 and 2 are two books. These books consist of 50 forms of poetry (25 in each book). I will write the name of the forms:
Poetry for Everyone | ||
Sl. No. | Poetry Forms in Volume -1 | Poetry Forms in Volume -2 |
1 | Acrostic | ABC poem |
2 | Abecarderian Poetry | Cadence Poetry |
3 | Alliteration | Cinquian Butterfly Poetry |
4 | Baccresieze | Double Acrostic |
5 | Cinquain | Duodora |
6 | Couplet | Echo Verse |
7 | Cromorna | ENVELOPE GLOSA and GLOSA |
8 | Diagonal Acrostic | Etheree Twin double & Etheree Twin |
9 | Epitaphs | Etheree Reverse |
10 | Enclosed rhyme | Kerf Poetry |
11 | Etheree | Lyrette |
12 | Etheree double | Marianne |
13 | Fibonacci | Nonet |
14 | Free verse | Quintent (English) |
15 | Haiku | SESTINA Poetry |
16 | Quatrain | Streambed Quintet |
17 | Rhyming | Triplets |
18 | Senryu | Tritina |
19 | Tanka | Villiane Poetry |
20 | Tetractys(triple) | Yadu |
21 | Fun with words* | Zejel |
22 | Heptaoem* | The Freedoetry* (Freedom poetry) |
23 | Remix Poetry form* | Experimetal Poetry* |
24 | Upside down poetry* | Alphabet Fever Poetry* |
25 | Zig-Zag Rhyming* | A Poetry Rainbow* |
The poetry forms with star (*) are created or experimented by the poet himself and rest all forms are existing forms. The amazing part is that the book also discuss about ‘How to write these 50 forms’ and I believe that every young aspiring poet should read this book. This book is termed as ‘Bible of Poetry’ by a reviewer. I hope this book will help many aspiring young minds who are interested in writing poetry.
How did you come up with the idea of writing poetry anthology genre book?
Being interested in poetry from school days, writing a poetry anthology/book, is quite natural to me. This idea of writing 50 forms of poetry came to me when I saw that in India there are very few people who know about different forms of poetry. Most people know about free verse, rhyme, acrostic, Haiku, senryu and tanka. When I first started searching about different forms of poetry I came across so many beautiful forms that I was surprised that why people don’t use them. It is fun writing these forms of poetry and I love them. It excited me so much that I actually started. There is still a lot of forms left to explore. My aim of writing this book is to give confidence to all new upcoming poets. These two books will empower them with different forms of poetry, its structure and who know they might come up with their own forms and contribute to the world of literature.
Who are your favourite authors?
Sir Ken Robinson, Amish Tripathi, Harivansh Rai Bachhan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar is among my favorite writers and thinkers. I love reading their works. Poems of all the Indian greats I am reading since my childhood ( as they were in my course too), but I developed a liking for Sir Ken Robinson after reading his two books The Element and Out of our minds. I had never seen such a simple way to explain things. What a creative thinker he is! Then coming to fiction, Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy left me spell bound with respect to the art of storytelling. I must say that everyone should read these books.
How much time do you dedicate to writing on a daily basis?
At least one poem a day or maximum a short story a day. There is normally no set pattern, but I try to write daily. The size of poems may vary from 2 liners to 100 lines depending on that day’s activity.
I enjoy writing.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
Everyone is unique and only need to believe in one’s abilities. You can achieve your dreams, you can change the world. Everything is possible through hard work and passion. Be passionate towards your dream and have a never say die attitude. If you are a writer then I must say to all aspiring writers to do these three things
Write
Write and
Write
You can only improve when you will write. Alongside this keep on reading whatever you like. Your point of views, understanding of a topic and counter-views will get honed during reading and when you will write. So be fearless and keep writing. Write for fun and don’t put the weight of expectations in writing. Write for fun and let that flower blossom to spread its fragrance around the world. Enjoy Writing!
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Thank you so much for this interview 🙂