Reading is a solitary activity. On the subway, over lunch breaks, during layovers, curled up in bed – no matter where we are, the written word allows us to escape (if only momentarily) into our own world. While reading circles can provide forums for discussion and sharing the worlds we imagine with others, in my experience they can feel stuffy, require assigned reading, and become transient as people come and go. Often the groups meant for us to share our thoughts hinder our ability to do so in fun and meaningful ways.
Over the past couple years, I’ve become involved in organising Rumuuz, an Urdu shayari group that has turned my readings from a passive literary activity to a dynamic community dialogue. Rumuuz is a primarily a literary group – we aim to engage people with the literature of the subcontinent and allow each other to share our interpretations, fictions, and experiences in a way that enriches our reading. Inadvertently, it also serves as a space for connecting diaspora with their mother tongue, immigrants looking to feel at home, language learners seeking to improve their Urdu, MFA poets to work on their craft, and everyone to drink chai. Over time, I’ve realized that Rumuuz has also changed my relationship with reading poetry, from a more passive and solitary activity to a reciprocal conversation with friends that enriches the way I engage with the written word.
Here are a couple lessons (in no particular order) I’ve learned from my friends on how to organise such spaces successfully, some being more specific to literary groups and others being general to organising artistic communities of all kinds:
- Choose a meeting time and stick with it. Consistency is key – the less people need to think about timing and logistics, the better.
- Meet in person. Go to each other’s houses and see how others live. This is one of the most powerful ways to build organic communities around a variety of group hobbies. At the same time…
- Leverage technology. Group chats, video calls and email are a given; think about other technologies you can use creatively (we love analog technology, like sending our poems and zines by post, or broadcasting sessions over groupchat radio)
- Don’t assign work, but always provide resources in advance. Let people decide which sessions and events they are interested in attending.
- Establish traditions that bring people back. We start our year with more classical works, focus on spiritual poetry during Ramadan, attend at least one mushaira during the summer, and end the year with a jeopardy tournament. These traditions arise naturally and look different for every group!
- Build foundations first. For any craft, the basics should be covered before moving on to advanced or even more interesting material. For us this meant reading key works of Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz before moving onto more modern poets. At the same time…
- Keep things fresh. Don’t overindex on classical or acclaimed work only. Try new formats, encourage folks to create and share their own work without pressuring them to do so, conduct co-led sessions, try new modalities (plays, visual art, letters, excerpts, etc), host show-and-tells and open mics, etc. Engage with a mix of easy and difficult content.
- Engage with local leaders in the field. For us this has meant inviting poets like Noon Meem Danish sahab for readings and engaging with professors like Frances Pritchett and Tahira Naqvi to setup events. Some of our most memorable experiences as a group have come from hosting and engaging with our experts and elders
- Consider the balance of passive appreciation of an art (watching films, reading poems) to active production of the art (writing your own poems, making movies). This will depend on the skill level and motivation of the group.
- Build transparent and democratic practices. Consider what members of the group are interested in, rather than giving one person total responsibility over content. Have open discussions and retrospectives about the state of the group. Leverage polls and collect feedback if needed.
- Cultivate “leaderfull” groups where multiple folks have stake. By distributing responsibility to individual members who are committed to the success of the group, engagement increases and individual members are less prone to burnout.
- Engage with other groups that do similar work and view the place of your group within a wider ecosystem if one exists in your area. Rumuuz has remained relatively insulated but exists within the wider world of NYC shayari circles (Columbia Urdu Reading circle, The Khusrau Circle, mushaira groups, etc) and literary magazines (SAAG Anthology, Lakeer Magazine). Work with such organizations if organic opportunities present themselves to do so
- Keep group sizes small to retain intimacy and reduce crowds - spawn more groups when growth occurs.
- Prevent formations of rigid cliques. Small groups will emerge naturally, but make sure everyone feels included in the group at large. Be wary of exclusionary policies but set implicit hard boundries on innapropriate behavior as defined by your group. Foster a sense of community outside the session if you can. We do this by going on “field trips” to mushairas, talks at the Asia Society, film screenings etc.
- Engage with newcomers and make them feel especially welcome. First impressions matter. Encourage everyone to participate in the conversation but force no one to do so.
- Dont take structuring the group too seriously (explicitly), but always have a plan or process (implicitly). Come prepared with a plan but engage in spontaneity when the opportunity presents itself.
I hope to keep this list growing as we continue to coordinate our sessions ~