Geography of Tongues

by Shikha Malaviya

Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. In GEOGRAPHY OF TONGUES by Shikha Malaviya, the poet playfully dons the role of 'morphologist,' moving deftly through continents, cultures, and personal histories, its often rugged terrain highlighted through shape-shifting poetic forms and unusual juxtapositions. Published by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective and hailed in Scroll.in as one of '11 books of Indian poetry to read' in 2014, GEOGRAPHY OF TONGUES flexes its lyrical muscle as negotiator/communicator, as taster/holder of experience and as rebel/tease, sticking its tongue out in defiance.

'Shikha Malaviya's clever and inventive poems inhabit the contested space where Western culture collides with Hindu mythology, in a resplendent crash of forms that range from prose poems to lyrical litanies, all of them deeply felt and elegantly crafted.'—Ravi Shankar

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2013

About the author

Shikha Malaviya was born in the United Kingdom but grew up in the United States and India. Her family originally hails from Uttarakhand. Shikha's book of historical persona poetry, Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems is a unique retelling of the life of India's first female medical doctor and the first Indian woman to study medicine in the United States. Shikha’s previous book of poems, Geography of Tongues, was published to acclaim in 2014. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and featured in Catamaran, PLUME, Prairie Schooner & other fine publications. Shikha has been a featured TEDx speaker and was selected as Poet Laureate of San Ramon, California, 2016. She is passionate about poetry & social change and involved in the poetry community through events/initiatives such as: crowdsourcing a poem on solar energy with Greenpeace India; writing a poem for Sankara Eye Foundation’s eye donation campaign; organizing ‘100 Thousand Poets for Change’ events, and more. Shikha is co-founder of The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective, a mentorship-model literary press and is currently a Mosaic America Fellow. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her family, where she is a poetry mentor, publisher, and workshop facilitator.