Description

This timely and compelling collection is essential reading for both general readers and specialists in Indian literature and art, as well as those interested in the broader literatures of the Global South. Showcasing the many facets of Sukrita’s extraordinary work—as a poet, critic, academic, and visual artist—the anthology offers a rare and illuminating view of her wide-ranging creative and intellectual contributions. Featuring selections of her own poetry and critical prose, alongside insightful essays by international scholars on her literary and artistic output, this volume captures the depth, richness, and lasting significance of her oeuvre. — Alev Adil, Cypress

Abundance, variety and complete competence: these are a genuine poet’s qualities as described by T. S. Eliot. Sukrita integrates these in her own way in these poems. — K SATCHIDANANDAN, India

When political environment in the world resembles a horrifying science-fiction movie, poets like Sukrita emerge as the ‘scholars of life’, adding to the pride of humanity. — DONIA GOBAR, Afghanisthan

…[T]he poems are gnomic, but more so because they are like small river stones thrown into a lake, whose ripples reach far across the oceanic waters of human consciousness to an elsewhere. An everywhere… — MARJORIE EVASCO, The Phillipines

[This book is] a delectable feast for readers who love the best in Indian literature. — Paul Zachariah, India

This book is a coming together of poetry and art lovers who understand the silences that bind Sukrita’s art together. — Esther Syiem, India

Girija Sharma is a former Professor of English. She taught in Himachal Pradesh University for 37 years and held many administrative positions. In 2022, her translated pieces appeared in two volumes of the Writer in Context Series entitled Krishna Sobti: A Counter Archive and Joginder Paul: A Writerly Writer, both published by Routledge. Her translations also feature in the forthcoming volume of the series Rahi Masoom Raza: In Pursuit of the Secular. She also translated a volume entitled Taj Bibi written by Rajendra Ranjan Chaturvedi which was brought out by CCRT (Centre for Cultural Resources and Training) in 2022. Her translations also appeared in Joginder Paul: A Reader published by Sahitya Akademi in 2023.  She has been writing on Modern American drama, Renaissance drama, Postcolonial literatures, Regional Indian literatures and New Literatures in national and international journals and anthologies. Her book reviews have been published in journals such as The Book Review, Confluence (London), Summerhill (IIAS), The Beacon, Muse India and Indian Journal of Australian Studies among others. She has co-edited three academic books with Pankaj K Singh, out of which two were published by Oxford University Press entitled Echoes Across Cultures (2003) and Ripples on the Sands of Time (2013) and the third Reflections from the East and West by Orient Blackswan (2012). She was also the Editor of the Himachal Pradesh University Newsletter Himshikhar, a quarterly publication from 2011 to 2016.

Basudhara Roy (b. 1986) has been teaching English at Karim City College affiliated to Kolhan University, Chaibasa for over a decade. Creatively and academically drawn to themes of diaspora, gender and ecology, her four published books include a critical book Migrations of Hope: A Study of the Short Fiction of Three Indian American Women Writers (Atlantic, 2019), and four collections of poems — Moon in My Teacup (Writers Workshop, 2019), Stitching a Home (Red River, 2021), Inhabiting (Authorspress, 2022) and the latest being A Blur of a Woman (Red River 2024). Her research articles have appeared in journals across the country and her poems have featured widely in anthologies and magazines including Chandrabhaga, The Punch Magazine, Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, The Dhaka Tribune, EPW, and Madras Courier among others. She has co-edited two poetry anthologies, is on the editorial board of a number of magazines, and frequently reviews poetry for Borderless Journal, Indian Literature, The Book Review, Confluence, Live Wire, Scroll, and The Statesman among others. A firm believer in the therapeutic power of verse, she also sporadically curates and translates poetry from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.

Contents

Introduction: Sukrita: The Wordsmith Who Loves to Shed Words

by Girija Sharma and Basudhara Roy

Section One

Poetry: Engraving Footprints Across Time, Across Space

Poems by Sukrita

Weaving the Warp and the Weft: On Poems and Poemlets

Poet as Dream Catcher (The Preface to Dream Catcher) by Sukrita  

From Darkness to Light by Vinita Agrawal  

Homing for Home by Yogesh Patel  

Tropes of Silence, Chaos and Identity in Sukrita’s Poetry by Shafey Kidwai  

Poemlets: An Oceanic Journey by Marjorie Evasco  

Discourse with Silence:  A Review of Salt & Pepper: Selected Poems by Sukrita by Basudhara Roy  

Vanishing Words: The ‘Language of Silence’ and ‘Deep Sighs’ by Girija Sharma  

Section Two

Paintings: Flaming Heart on Canvas

Sukrita’s Artwork: In Dialogue with the Self by Meenakshi Faith Paul  

“What Leaves Us”: Sukrita’s Poetics of Non-Presence by Kamayani  

Section Three

Anguish of Language: Translations by Sukrita

To See or Not to See: Some Thoughts, Some Notes by Sukrita Paul Kumar 159

Blind: An Extract from the Novel by Joginder Paul Translated by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Hina Nandrajog

Sleepwalkers: An Extract from the Novel Translated by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Sunil Trivedi  

“Qais, Majnoun Laila” by Mahmoud Abu Hashhash Translated by Sukrita Paul Kumar 177

A Brief Note on the Poems “Qais, Majnoun Laila” (Mahmoud Abu Hashhash) and “Laila’s Song” by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

“Denigrated” by Padma Sachdev Translated by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Along the Way

With Some Inspirational Minds

Section Four

The Critical Conduit: Sukrita Paul Kumar on Partition, Gender and Marginality

Essays

Critiquing Partition Narratives: In Search of Tools and Lenses by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Decoding Gender in Literary Texts by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Memory into Metaphor by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Cultural Diversity in India: Multilinguality and the Language/literature Interface by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Androgyny in Search of Modernity: With Reference to the Hindi Novel Ardhanarisvar by Vishnu Prabhakar by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Introduction: Ismat, Her Life, Her Times by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Editorials from Indian Literature

A Case for Gender Transgression and its Aesthetics of Expression by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Denotified, not Unbranded by Sukrita Paul Kumar  

Section Five 

Vis-à-vis Voices: Conversations on Dis/Locations

Tracing a literary life: Sukrita Paul Kumar in Conversation with Chandana Dutta  

Section Six 

Life & Work

Sukrita Paul Kumar: A Brief Biography  

Bibliography

Acknowledgements