Poetry inspired by conventional life

The book release function of six poetry collections and one anthology of Author Neelam Saxena Chandra was held at ICCR Azad Bhawan on April 20 in the presence of Amarendra Khatua, Director General ICCR and renowned poet, Laxmi Shankar Bajpai, Ex-Dy. Director General, AIR, Dr Mridula Tandon, Philanthropist and Founder Member of SAKSHI and Sudarshan K Cherry, Founder, Authorspress.

The books released include two of her English poetry collections titled "The Soul Unbound" and "Trove of Musings" with co-poet Raksha Hegde and four Hindi poetry collections "Main Bahane Lagi Hun", "Maine Rang Diye Alfaaz", "Maine Tarashe hain Alfaaz" and "Rangi Main Tere Rang Mein". An anthology "Ek Sahar Ummid Bhari" compiled by Neelam and edited by Shweta Bhatt was also released during the occasion. The books have been published by Authorspress, which is a publishing venture with a missionary zeal founded by Sudarshan K Cherry.

An author of four novels, one novella and five short story collections, 19 poetry collections and 10 children's books, Neelam Saxena Chandra works as Joint Secretary for U.P.S.C., India. She was listed in Forbes as one among 78 most popular authors in the country in 2014.

The evening began with the book release of "Main Bahne lagi hun", followed by "Maine Rang Diye Alfaaz", "Maine Tarashe hain Alfaaz", "Rangi Main Tere Rang Mein", "Trove of Musings" and "The Soul Unbound".

A very special feature of Neelam's books is the cover pages which have been made by some well-known artists such as Janhavi Bhide, Pankaj Saxena, Ritu Bhatnagar and Raksha Hegde.

This was followed by Neelam reading out a few poems from her collections that touched the heart of the audience. Neelam informed that she is motivated by day-today experiences in and around her in writing poems. The guests praised Neelam for her contribution to the world of literature.

An anthology titled' Ek Sahar Ummid Bhari' compiled by Neelam Saxena Chandra and edited by Shweta Bhatt was also released on the occasion.