eSkylark
A Voice of
the NRI - Diasporic Poets
Editor: Yogesh Patel
Consulting
Editor: Dr Debjani Chatterjee, MBE
ISSN 2397-1878 (printed
and digital)/ Issue 3/2016
Features
1. Editorial
2. Poetry in Translation:
3. A Crowdfunding Initiative
4. A Review Group
5. Audio Archive
6. Resources for the craft of writing
7. Poet-of-the-Month: Kavita A.Jindal
8. Books by the Poet-of-the-Month
9. Contact the Poet-of-the-Month
for readings, interviews, etc.
10. Required Reading in this Period
11 Events Listing
12. Contests without fee
13. Unsolicited Submission Requests
14. Marketing your Book
15. Help this NON-PROFIT project?
Printed copies of our winners'
anthology
and of this magazine are available at
The Poetry Library
Level 5,
Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX
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All
Libraries
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Please also look
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recommending.
Ask for our latest list of ten books
that every library should have.
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Please sign the petition and ask others
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network to help
Refer
Amazon
to the competition
authorities
Link:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/122534/sponsors/IMivnKJhub1d5U6DXtBs
In The Telegraph Rohan
Silva, a former adviser to
David Cameron and
George Osborne, said the lack
of competition in the book
market is “really
horrifying”, allowing Amazon
to dominate. I’m absolutely
aghast about what the
government and competition
authorities have allowed
Amazon to do.
What the Society of Authors
and their members think of
Amazon can be found
here: http://www.societyofauthors.org/what-do-we-think-amazon
The background to
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petition can be found at
this link:
http://tinyurl.com/zer3933
Good qualities
are appreciated in whomsoever they are
found.
Uttararaamacharitam (Bhavabhuti)
Director: Yogesh Patel
Suite 6, Riverside House,
196 Wandle Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6AU, England
Patrons: Lord
Parekh and Lord Dholakia
Dr Debjani Chatterjee, MBE
Dr Shanta Acharya
Usha Akella
Reginald Massey
Daljit Nagra
Saleem Peeradina
Usha Kishore
Meena Alexander
Pramilla Venkateswaran
Siddhartha Bose
WM Award
winners:
Sweta Vikram
This issue is dedicated
to our latest Word Masala Award winner
|
Kavita A.
Jindal
|
In our troubled times, with gods
trotting around with guns or offensive
idioms, the meanings of religion and faith
are in imbroglio. Religions require
surrender, and at the extreme end, guns try
to make them conclusive. On the other hand,
faith requires imparting oneself with an
acceptance that it is not about the
absolutes of gods. One emancipates oneself
from rituals to meaningful practices. It
requires a leap of faith from a poet to be
able to speak amidst the drowning noise of
nasty religious madness. Kavita A. Jindal is
a poet of distinction and offers a
distillation that filters out the noise and
unnecessary clutter in her poetry.
Consequently, the tincture we get is a state
of yoga, everything held in balance, even a
tumult! We observe and we absorb. The
epiphany is where Kavita takes us. So, after
reading her many poems, I settled on the
chosen poem because it addresses the issue
of faith, which very few poets are tackling
with objectivity, in spite of the fact that
there is so much assault on humanity
surrounding us.
dog tags strung tight
around my neck
Such lines, the images of form-filling, and
debates about gender through male or female
deities - they conjure up a dismissal of the
lot:
agnostic, atheist,
multi-faith, irreligious, liberal,
gregarious, star-gazer
sun-worshipper
and to top it all
open-minded
The poet neatly liberates us into the best
and mundane leap of faith:
Monday to Sunday, just
living is an act of faith.
The simplicity reminds me of W. H. Auden’s
take in his poem, 'Culture':
Happy the hare at
morning, for she cannot read
Kavita’s poem also resonates with Auden’s
lines further on in the same poem:
But what shall man do,
who can whistle tunes by heart
This poet whistles while poem’s music and
atmosphere engage me for lack of rant. It
presents the rationale that the life in its
raw form unleashed to the open savannah is
the real return to the faith, and it also
asserts itself in a denial of a massacre of
the humanity for the words humans write in
the name of religion.
But then again, Kavita, as an observer, is
not making any political or religious stand.
She takes us on a canvas for a fresh context
of meanings. Perhaps, your amplification is
different.
- YP
Apologies to
Siddhartha Bose for the typos that crept in
at a
couple of places in our previous issue.
Kavita
A. Jindal
Act
of Faith
Don’t pry don’t ask to
whom I pray; if it changes from day to
day,
if the entity is male or female
if I fast and for whom
don’t ask, don’t ask.
I know there are forms to fill; spaces
where I must write, neatly and in caps,
the beliefs I’ve claimed
dog tags strung tight
around my neck
agnostic, atheist, multi-faith,
irreligious, liberal, gregarious,
star-gazer
sun-worshipper
and to top it all
open-minded
yet searching for a word to describe my
true religion, which began one solemn
day
when I thought
impermanence could be
invited at will
I wished to be a ribbon of mist trailing
in the cold blast of the stratosphere
but found
I’d stayed within
reach of earth; why, I was
still grounded
Drawing breath is an act of faith, one
I’ve embraced; running, jumping,
keeping time, sucking in air, choosing
to
each new day
is religion
Monday to Sunday, just living is an act
of faith.
First published in the inaugural issue
of ‘Cha: An Asian Literary Journal’ in
November 2007.
A
Poetry Film
Kavita A.
Jindal
KAVITA A. JINDAL
is a prize-winning
fiction writer, as well as poet,
essayist and reviewer.
She is the author of ‘Raincheck
Renewed’, published to
critical acclaim by Chameleon Press.
Her story ‘A Flash of
Pepper’ won the Vintage
Books/Foyles ‘Haruki Murakami
competition’ in 2012.
Her work has appeared in
literary journals, anthologies and
newspapers around the world and has
been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and
European cultural radio stations.
Her poems have been
translated into Arabic, German,
Punjabi, Spanish and Romanian.
Kavita was born and
raised in India and has lived in both
Hong Kong and England for many years.
She is a Senior Editor at
the journal Asia Literary Review.
Links to her short
fiction, essays and other work can be
accessed on her website www.kavitajindal.com
Twitter: @writerkavita
Poet's
corner
My
influences are eclectic and I draw
on three cultures: Indian, Chinese
and British.
I
remain a free-form writer; free
from the constraints of any of
these literary traditions, while
aiming to create an orderly
arrangement to suit each
individual poem. I relish my place
as an obscure little dot on the
literature continuum.
-
Kavita A.
Jindal
Please
encourage fellow writers
If you do something to encourage
our poets featured, at your
library, radio or TV station, or
an organization, or a magazine,
please DO NOT FORGET to let us
know, so that we can tell others
how you helped our poets here. Add
a brief note on yourself and your
project or activity too.
|
Books by the
Poet-of-the-Month
CHAMELEON
PRESS
JANUARY
2004
ISBN
9789889706081
From Reviews:
“Kavita manages to be a
detached analytical observer and,
simultaneously, an active participant — and
it is this quality that gives her work the
very desirable element of surprise. By rights,
Kavita Jindal ought to be wearing a
mask! She
sweet-talks the reader with whimsical or
pleasant introductory lines and stanzas and
then ambushes them with a cynical twist.”
“She has a restrained yet
entrancing voice… with a subtle strangeness”
Please benefit from our review group
To be fair to
all small presses struggling everywhere, I
bluntly ask, if you can't spare time for
other poets, why should they for you?
Word Masala has set up a review group. Please
join it
These poets are commendable and unselfish in
helping this review group: Saleem
Peeradina, Reginald
Massey, Yogesh
Patel,Debjani
Chatterjee, Usha Akella,
Usha Kishore, Pramila Venkateswaran, Mona Dash.and
Kavita
Jindal.
Please join them.
Latest in Reginald Massey's Bookpage at
Confluence:
http://www.confluence.mobi/book-review/reginald-masseys-book-page-glass-scissors-and-zamorins/
Read Saleem Peeradina's review at World
Literature Today here:
http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2016/march/flowers-chinese-culture-folklore-poetry-religion-lan-zhang
Authors
are requested to contact
the editor to join this group. They
and their publishers may also offer
discounts on their books.
We welcome everyone to help us with reviews,
NOT JUST diaspora poets and critics.
You DO NOT HAVE
TO BE from the diaspora.
Congratulations
to Lord Bhikhu Parekh on receiving his
17th Honorary Doctorate
Recently,
Essays in Honour of
Bhikhu Parekh appeared in the
following volume:
Multiculturalism
Rethought:
Interpretations, Dilemmas and
New
Directions—Essays
in Honour of Bhikhu Parekh
edited by Varun
Oberoi and Tariq Modood
Edinburgh University Press, 2015, pp.
240, GBP 80.00, R7220.00
The following quote is from the review that
appears in
The Book Review from
India
His critical
engagement with the liberal tradition,
his efforts to explore a space beyond
liberal nationalism, on the one hand,
and communitarianism, on the other, his
reflections on questions of race,
identity, nation and sovereignty, cannot
be ignored by students of politics and
political theory anywhere in the world.
The papers in this collection, written
in his honour, make this amply clear.
Many of the contributors engage with
aspects of Parekh’s thought with this
understanding. To those who are
not sufficiently familiar with his
writings, this volume offers a glimpse
of Parekh’s thinking and gives them good
reasons to read his works; to those who
are acquainted with his views, it offers
rich analysis that can add to one's
understanding.
-Gurpreet Mahajan
The Book Review is a
non-political, ideologically
non-partisan journal, which tries to
reflect all shades of intellectual
opinions and ideas. The views of the
reviewers and authors writing for the
journal are their own. All reviews and
articles published in The Book Review
are exclusive to the journal and may
not be reprinted without the prior
permission of the editors.
Published by Chandra
Chari for The Book Review Literary
Trust, 239 Vasant Enclave, New Delhi
110057. Printed at National Printers,
B-56, Naraina Industrial Area Phase-II,
New Delhi 110028
Word Masala recommends
The Book Review. Please subscribe to it at
THE
WORD MASALA CROWDFUNDING INITIATIVE
The first
poet to receive this AWARD
is an emerging
voice to watch with one collection
already under her belt
Mona
Dash
Find out more about Mona
from her interview with Jaydeep Sarangi
Please,
purchase this book at the
prepublication price of £9.99 plus
postage. You will be supporting
future publications by our diaspora
poets. Your
support is vital.
Please
buy it yourself, and we will also
appreciate your recommending it
to your followers in any relevant
social media and blog to help this
initiative.
Resources for Writers
Please go to our
website, find the blog and then click on
the links
This feature is now
open for submission.
- Please note that
poetry in translation may only be
submitted by Indian diaspora
poets.
- We do not normally
accept work from literary
translators resident in India.
- We prefer work by
expat poets from all languages.
- If poems are in
copyright, you must have
permission.
- Diaspora poets may
translate their own poems and
submit them.
- All translated
poetry must be accompanied by brief
(50 words) biographical details of
the poet and the translator
1.
Featuring
Gujarati Poet Dr Jagdish Dave
Mirror to
Mirror
A mirror: No face claimed
Laughs with the others
Cries with the others
In cold apathy
Tranquil
Yet,
it flicks the reality
Like
men
Faceless
Leading
you wrong way
-Jagdish
Dave
(The original Poem entitled, Arisano
Chahero, has been translated from
Gujarati by Yogesh Patel)
2.
A book by
our past winner
Usha Kishore
Translating
The Divine Woman
Shyamaladandakam
This is a scholarly work of translation
of Kalidasa's Shyamaladandakam.
Translations are by Usha Kishore and M
Sabasivam. This is a feminist offering
as stated by the translators: 'We
have interpreted the text from a
feminist perspective..'
Available from www.rasalabooks.com
The
WM poetry audio
archive at our
website
If you are a published poet from the diaspora, and write
in English,
please send us
the audio file
of your best
poem, read
by you. We
are building
an archive
that will
eventually be
transferred to
one of the
UK's
prestigious
institutions.
Visit us at http://www.skylarkpublications.co.uk/audio.html
Required
reading this period
1
Please support us by buying the
following book
Word Masala Winners of 2015
The ISBN is
978095560840033
Please order it at http://www.skylarkpublications.co.uk/shop.html
or
buy at Amazon
(or
write review. A PDF copy is
available for a review )
A BIG
THANK YOU to those who
bought it and have
donated extra.
2
On
finding yourself in the work of Jhumpa
Lahiri
http://lithub.com/on-finding-yourself-in-the-work-of-jhumpa-lahiri/
3.
The Paris
Review: How
to name your fictional characters.
4.
“You Will Be
Tokenized”: Speaking Out About the State
of Diversity in Publishing
5.
A Short Story by
Amitav Kumar
Required
reading this period
Here is a list from Independent
for some of 2015's finest poetry, though
no South-Asian poet makes the list!
3
4
Events
Word
Masala Foundation announces
Champion
of the
South-Asian
Diaspora
Poetry Awards
to Publishers
A major
award celebration of our
winners is organized on
22nd June 2016
at
The
House of Lords
6.30 pm - 8.30 pm
This
important event is by
invitation only
A
special guest
speaker: Zata
Banks of PoetryFilm
Book
Launch: Collections
by Saleem Peeradina and
Bobby Nayyar
Word
Masala Awards
and poetry reading by the
winnerS
(See
the list above)
Networking
***
ONLINE
COURSE: NO FEE
Journalism
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/introduction-to-journalism
This
free online course is
aimed at those curious
about journalism and
looking to gain a
better understanding
of what the subject
entails. Run by a team
of
internationally-renowned
scholars and
journalism
practitioners at the
University of
Strathclyde, it gives
you a
behind-the-scenes look
at the professional
world of reporters and
editors.
***
Asymptote’s
fifth anniversary event in London
Waterstones Piccadilly
203 - 206 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9HD
Please join us for Asymptote’s fifth
anniversary event in London, as we welcome
three of the most exciting writers engaging
in multilingual work. Caroline Bergvall is a
poet and artist of French-Norwegian
background, whose projects alternate between
textual pieces, audioworks, visual
textworks, installations, and live
performances, often in collaboration. She
has recently presented work at the Tate
Modern (London), and her poetry collections
‘Drift’ and ‘Meddle-English’ have drawn
praise from critics across the world.
Tena Štivičić is a playwright who has won
numerous awards including the European
Authors Award and Innovation Award at
Heidelberg Stueckemarkt and the prestigious
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Hamid Ismailov is a dissident Uzbek writer,
poet and journalist residing in the West. He
was the BBC World Service’s first Writer in
Residence. Critics have compared his books
to the best of Russian classics, Sufi
parables and works of Western
post-modernism.
The discussion will be chaired by Ros
Schwartz, vice-chair of the Translators
Association. Ros is a translator from French
with over 70 titles to her name, including a
new translation of St Exupéry’s Le Petit
Prince and seven Maigret novels for Penguin
Classics’ new translations of George
Simenon’s oeuvre.
Contests without
fee
Holland
Park Press
The theme of this poetry
competition is poetry and politics, so in
order to enter your poem it must be about
any aspect of politics. Your poem can be
about international politics or about
something political much more closer to
home. We don’t have to agree with your
opinions, but we do want to be touched in
some way by your poem, inspired by its
imagery and, of course, we look for a
beautiful use of language.
Prize: £200 and
publication in the Holland Park Press online
magazine
Closing date: 31st August 2016
Length: 50 lines or less
Entry fee: none
Eligibility: poems written in English by
writers over 18 from any country
To submit: email your poem as a Word or PDF
attachment to
Foley
Poetry Contest
http://americamagazine.org/foley-poetry
Poems are being accepted for the 2016 Foley
Poetry Award. Each entrant is asked to submit
only one unpublished poem on any topic. The
poem should be 30 lines or fewer and not under
consideration elsewhere. Poems will not be
returned. Poems should be sent in via
Submittable, or postal mail. Closes on 31st
March 2016
Deadline
June 30, 2016. First prize $300. Second prize
$150. Third prize $30. Poems can be rhyming or
non-rhyming, although we find that non-rhyming
poetry reads better. We suggest that you write
about real emotions and feelings and that you
have some special person or occasion in mind
as you write.
We
are looking for poems about
romantic love. We have already
published books which touch on
aspects of love – a book of mildly
erotic poems, a book of
instructional poems about
seduction, a little pamphlet of
poems about a long-distance
relationship – so now we want to
create an anthology of modern
poems which examines and
celebrates romantic love and the
many forms it takes.
This
book will be edited by regular
Emma Press editors Rachel Piercey
and Emma Wright, and published in
January 2017
Red Sofa Literary
http://redsofaliterary.com/representative-categories/
Red Sofa Literary is a boutique literary
agency originally established in St.
Paul/Minneapolis. With authors all over the
world, Red Sofa now has a reach beyond the
infamous 10,000 Lakes.
Corvisiero Agency
http://www.corvisieroagency.com/submissions.html
This is a New York City boutique
literary agency founded by Marisa A.
Corvisiero, Esq. This agency is a place
where authors can partner with
professional and experienced
representation, who will value and guide
them toward a successful career in
publishing.
They offer international literary
representation and management services
to fiction and non-fiction authors of
all ages, for all ages, in a wide
spectrum of genres.
Whether
http://www.whethermagazine.com/write-for-us/
Whether accepts submissions year-round.
They are no longer running monthly
themes, so articles, essays, stories,
and poems
can be on any topic as long as it
embodies the qualities described below.
Marketing
your book
The things you
can do to promote the books
http://lithub.com/the-things-we-do-to-promote-the-books-we-write/
Advertise
your related services
and products to fund this project
and
more poetry collections like
the one below
When visiting our website, do not forget
to explore our advertisers there.
Each click adds to a fund
in support of our cause.
Can you help this
project? WHY
not?
We
also have backpacks available with a poem by Yogesh
Patel, Dr Debjani Chatterjee and Saleem
Peeradina. If you can donate one
of your poems for this fund raising
venture (your rights reserved), please contact
us. They have to be for an occasion.
Do you want merchandise featuring work by
other poets or your own poems? Even
in Gujarati,
Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, or any other world
languages? No
problem.
To
order contact me direct with your PDF of a
poem in the language you want. We can also
help if you need help with the artwork.
As this project is for all us, is a
non-profit venture in nature, and
constantly evolving, Word Masala welcomes
local poets and authors to join hands in
making it a meaningful stop for all our
creative talents worldwide. We are
especially keen to see the poetry film
genre taking on a new and exciting poetic
direction. Please email Yogesh if you can
spare some help. Remote help or
suggestions are welcome too.
Good luck!
Yogesh Patel
  
Thank
you once again to those who wrote
back, appreciating this
thankless non-revenue initiative.
Please add us to your contacts and address
book.
Should you think this is
not a worthy endeavour, then please unsubscribe by
sending a polite email indicating which
email address we have used. Please note Word
Masala and Skylark have no monetary
interests in any suggestions here, and do
not take liability for any action taken
by you. You must research any suggestions
contained herein, and assure
yourself accordingly.
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| (c) Word Masala & Skylark
Publications UK |
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