Manish Srivastava is a poet, life coach and facilitator of societal transformation. He is currently a Senior Faculty and Co-Director of Social Presencing Theatre with the Presencing Institute, USA.

Manish works with leaders across business, government, UN and civil society sectors to co-design social innovation labs. He integrates poetry, contemplative art and systems thinking to help leaders collectively sense, own and transform the societal divides. Manish believes that poetry and art can uncover humanity’s deepest longings, heal collective wounds, and offer pathways to new possibilities. His work on transforming gender conflicts, human trafficking, pandemic and the migrant crisis has featured at the Presencing Institute Global Forum and Conflict Transformation Summit in 2020. His poems and writings reflect further on his experiences and invite readers from all over the world to collectively heal and celebrate humanity.

His recent book, Midnight Journey of a Seed, brings to light the deeper story of human resilience in the face of a pandemic. By integrating poetry, anecdotes, art and contemplative practices, the book takes readers on a healing journey and offers pathways to co-create a resilient future. His first book, Trading Armour for a Flower, provides a poetic pathway to heal gender trauma by integrating the inner masculine and feminine. Poems from this book have been translated into Hebrew and Spanish for reading in over twenty poetry dialogue circles by leading institutions and civil society movements worldwide. The title poem was featured in a short film that has premiered at THE BODY LANGUAGE exhibition (Venice 2020). Manish lives in Pune, India, with his wife and son.