Last week there was a poetry evening  at Nordic Club featuring some of Bangladesh’s most enthusiastic – and successful – writers.

They included Sabahat Jahan, who is well known around the community, a poet with a wonderful view on the world, that she expresses in a rich and inventive vocabulary. She has just published her second volume of poetry entitled Hands Full of Nothing.

Randall P. Girdner is a writer and artist of middle grade and young adult fiction, including the Boyd McCloyd series. His latest novel, The Wizard of New York City will be out in early 2016.

Bob Pateman is a published writer of poetry and short stories. His poems have been published in magazines such as ‘Brittle Star’, he has worked as editor of Tanzania’s leading tourist magazine, was a long term correspondent to the UK magazine World Soccer and is the only person to ever write a poem about Lavender Supermarket.

Gina “Elle” Corneille is a singer/songwriter/poet/activist whose writing reflects social injustices within many communities.  Her most recently published work Out on a Limb is a chapbook compilation of a variety of poetry and song.

It was an open evening and I was also asked to read. My old friend and colleague from Uganda, recently arrived in Dhaka, Peter Bøgh Jensen was the only person to brave the open mike.