Description
An initiative of Red River and Indian Novels Collective
Hummingbirds are distinguished by their dazzling colours, diminutive size, and speedy flight, the only birds that can fly backwards, upside down, sideways, and hover in mid-air. Sighting a hummingbird also signals that challenging times are over and healing can begin. These little birds are also a sign of hope and spiritual significance. They are also critically endangered species, facing the prospect of extinction due to climate change.
Since publishing poetry is considered perhaps the most adventurous or perilous creative journey, curating a poetry series in the name of hummingbirds literally and metaphorically affirms our faith in the commitment and belief in the power of small to achieve the impossible.
Inspired by Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan activist and the first woman Nobel Peace Prize winner from Africa, who pioneered Green Belt Movement, and a great believer in the power of hummingbirds, we believe that our Hummingbirds Chapbook Series, a joint initiative of Red River and Indian Novels Collective, will energise poets and poetry lovers to come together and help create a republic of imagination.
Translator’s Note by Mani Rao
What I enjoy about Anamika’s poetry is its attention to daily life, humour and grace, and a remarkably free flow—she begins with a thought, and meandering across a series of light-hearted joineries, arrives at profound realisations. These translations were part of a two-way exchange. Translating each other’s poems has been an intimate and deep conversation.
Anamika teaches literatures in English at the University of Delhi. Her doctoral thesis is on the reception of John Donne across the ages. Besides eight volumes of criticism, she has published seven novels in Hindi. Three of her novels, Dus Dware ka Peenjara, Aienasaz and Trin Dhari Oat have won national awards. In 2020 she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her poetry collection Tokri Mein Digant. Poems from her other poetry collections, Anushtup, Khurduri Hatheliyan, Doob-Dhan, Pani Ko Sab Yaad Tha, Band Raston Ka Safar are on the syllabi at different universities. She is an avid translator herself, and also the founding-editor of a bilingual literary journal called Pashyantee. Her essays on womanist discourse in Hindi have been translated into many languages and she has translated the works of Rilke, Neruda, Doris Lessing, Octavio Paz, and contemporary women poets extensively.
Mani Rao is the author of sixteen books in poetry, translation and non-fiction. She held writing residencies at IWP Iowa, Omi Ledig House NY, and International Poetry Studies Institute Canberra (IPSI), served on juries including the Windham Campbell Prize for poetry, and participated in such festivals as Jaipur Literature Festival and New York PEN World Voices. Mani has an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Nevada Las Vegas, and a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University, USA. Her research on mantras in the book Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience Today is part of the Anthropology of Religion Series, Palgrave Macmillan (2019). She is the Managing Editor, Translated Poetry, for The Bombay Literary Magazine. So That You Know (poetry) and The Essential Kalidasa (translation) are forthcoming in 2025 from HarperCollins. www.manirao.com
