Kiriti Sengupta is synonymous with innovation and novelty in the field of Indian poetry in English. The release of Hibiscus: poems that heal and empower (May 2020, Hawakal) is a case in point. During the trying times of the pandemic, the anthology provides the proverbial silver lining—a magic potion that fills the reader with positivity and light. I bought a copy and read through the poems. I was intrigued that the book delivers on its promise. I decided to reach out to Sengupta to delve deeper into his creative process, to decode the mystery of this poet of mysticism and beauty. He answers my questions with the skill and grace of a professional ice skater who exists in the ethereal world they create for the audience. Could Sengupta unlock his heart? Read on to find out.
Brinda Bose teaches at the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has been a Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, and taught at Delhi University for many years. She has published several books, including the edited collections Translating Desire: The Politics of Gender and Culture in India (2003) and The Phobic and the Erotic: The Politics of Sexualities in Contemporary India (2007), critical editions of Mrs Dalloway, Heart of Darkness and Through the Looking Glass, and the monograph The Audacity of Pleasure: Sexualities, Literature and Cinema in India (2018). Calcutta, Crow and other fragments (2020) published by Hawakal Publishers (Kolkata and Delhi), is her debut chapbook.
Shoba Narayan is the author of four books. She has been a journalist and columnist for 25 years, writing about travel, food, wine, culture, crafts and nature, for a number of national and international publications. She founded and co-created a website called Project LooM, which documents the handloom traditions of India.
Not many can claim their debut novels to make it to the list of the World’s most prestigious literary awards. Dubai based Indian novelist Avni Doshi has done that; her debut novel ‘Burnt Sugar’ has been long-listed for the 2020 Booker prize. The novel made it to the ‘Booker Dozen’ after judges assessed 162 novels, published in the UK or Ireland between October2019 and September 2020.
