When a poet puts the natural world at the centre of their work, it may just end up at the centre of their readers' lives too. That was the spirit guiding the collaboration between Literature Live! and the Macondo Book Society, Nairobi, earlier this May.

Selected from 162 applicants by a panel comprising Anja Bengelstorff, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, Shubhangi Swarup and Reena Agrawal, four poets from India and Kenya came together for the second Turkana Nature Poetry Retreat at the Turkana Basin Institute in Northern Kenya.

They came from different countries and had very different lived experiences, but a shared love of nature and poetry drew them into the landscape of Turkana, into conversation with TBI researchers, and into reflection on the connections between poetry, science and the more-than-human world.

Over eight days, Amulya Bhat, Mesak Takhelmayum, Frank Njugi and Evalyn Wanjiru Githina each developed pieces of their own. Now they're bringing Turkana home to you. At Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026, all four poets take one stage for a special session, carrying what they found there into the garden.