Book Excerpt: La Magie de Madagascar-The Magic of Madagascar by Abhay K. (Bilingual edition, Translated into French by Prof. Madhuri Mukherjee and Katia Novet Saint-Lôt)

An exclusive excerpt from poet Abhay K’s latest bilingual release The Magic of Madagascar ( L’Harmattan, Paris, 2021)

• Éditions: L’Harmattan, Paris, 2021
• Pages. 144

In very simple verses that belie their complex fluidity, Abhay K. blends both the sensibility of nature and the ordinariness of urban life with the magic of the lyrical. From cues that most people no longer notice, he discovers spiritus mundi in the endemism of the island. Awakening our sense of nostalgia and curiosity, he distills precious haiku, enabling us to contemplate this land in the middle of the ocean and our impact on it. Abhay K. is not content merely to appreciate the joyful frolicking of lemurs, the songs of the smallest of our birds, and our flowering trees; he calls out our actions –– sometimes cruel and ignorant. Above all, he invokes in this collection, a virtually pristine forest, perfumes, colours, and cries –– of joy as well as of panic.

Let us also acknowledge the translators’ efforts to render this poetry whose form – the haiku – created for another language, does not easily lend itself to French.

Thanks to the poet-diplomat, caring and attentive to the reader’s heart.  – Johary Ravaloson, Writer, Madagascar

Selected Haiku  from The Magic of Madagascar by Abhay  K.

In the haiku of Abhay K. I recognize a young voice fully capable of carrying my vision of the liberated haiku into an unfolding 21st century that will need from its greatest writers poems in which every word matters and every thought will have in it the emotional resonance, strength and beauty that can serve us and sustain us through what is to come.  Here is a poet who casts blessings our way while also paving the road we travel, in language as durable as stone. Is there a greater heart in contemporary poetry? I do not know of one. – Michael McClintock, Poet, USA

Excerpted with permission from The Magic of Madagascar ( L’Harmattan, Paris, 2021) by Abhay K. (Bilingual edition, Translated into French by Prof. Madhuri Mukherjee and Katia Novet Saint-Lôt)

You can buy the book from HERE.

About Author

Editor_Kitaab

Namrata is a published author who enjoys writing stories and think pieces on travel, relationships, and gender. She is a UEA alumnus and has studied travel writing at the University of Sydney.

She is also an independent editor and a book reviewer. Her writings can be found on various sites and magazines like the Asian Review of Books, Contemporary South Asia Journal of King’s College-London, Mad in Asia, The Friday Times, Daily Star, The Scroll, Feminism in India, The Brown Orient Journal, Inkspire Journal, Moonlight Journal, The Same, Chronic Pain India and Cafe Dissensus.

Her short stories have been a part of various anthologies . She has also published two short story collections of her own along with two solo titles as well. She is currently working on her debut novel. She loves travelling the length and breadth of the world and enjoys capturing the magic of life in her words. She is always in pursuit of a new country and a new story.

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