Description
Young birds that leave their nests
do not fly back to their home-trees.
Why then should I long to go back
to my days of spring?
With poignant lyricism, Srutimala Duara’s poems gently bring back much of the music we have lost. — Robin S Ngangom
These are poems that resonate through your soul and deftly capture the light and shade of life. — Lynette Lewington
Autumn Poems carry the joy of sitting on the bank of a majestic river of memories. The poems sing lovingly of the earth like the ‘dandelions floating over the greens’. The unusual simplicity of the poems is wrapped with the careful warmth of life. The light from the flickering fireflies guides us to a rare spot where the silence of our home meets the ancient, pharaonic dreams under the cosmic sky. The poet wants us to walk with her ‘into a medieval town, mountains skirting, streets cobbled, cottages with climbing ivy, and roses on window sills’. — Madhu Raghavendra
Srutimala Duara is a bilingual writer and academician. Her books in English include three novels; four collections of short stories — The Sunset Hour and Other Stories, Waiting for the Last Breath, The Jhoolan Evening and The Missing Link; five books of poems — Shells of Expressions, Petals, By the Brahmaputra and Other Poems, Along My Route and When it Rains (Red River, 2021); a book on the city of Guwahati, Mindprints of Guwahati; and a book of travels, European Rhapsody; apart from articles in academic books and dailies. She has edited Assam: Myriad Perspectives. Her books in Assamese include six story books for children, three children’s novels, a collection of short stories and a novel. She is an Associate Professor, Department of English, Handique Girls’ College, Guwahati. She was awarded the Naari Shakti Award in April 2015; Woman of the Year 2016 by International Human Rights Council (Assam Chapter); Women Achievers Award in Literature by DS Creation, January 2019; and Indian Women Achievers Award in Literature by Asian Literary Society in 2021. She was a presenter in Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati for 20 years. She has acted in television serials and on stage, in more than 50 radio plays.