الطائر الذي هو أنا

by Anuradha Vijayakrishnan, صباح ديبي (ترجمة)

In the Who-Am-I Bird, Anuradha Vijayakrishnan reveals complex worlds where masked stories fly out searching for a name, shifting colour, hiding behind black poinsettia or turning into a woman with three breasts. These poems curate the magical spaces between the seen and the unseen, where nothing belongs and everything is true. That Anuradha Vijayakrishnan, who has been writing for years, is coming out with her debut collection only now speaks volumes for her care and commitment to the ancient art of poetry. She defamiliarises the familiar, fills plants, birds, roads, rivers and seasons with fresh meanings by a minor change in perspective. Her contemplative self, explores the many outer and inner dimensions of our ephemeral passage across the little, beautiful planet we live in and the many layers of our identity. Anuradha steers clear of the cynicism that characterises a lot of poets of her generation in order to capture the unmistakable uniqueness of the fleeting moment. A poem like ‘The Epiphyte Speaks‘ sums up all that is best in her verve, pithiness, empathy.” — K. Satchidanandan, poet and editor “A poet who will one moment adopt the mask of a mythical bird to forestall the otherwise frequently embarrassing poetic Who am I?, and the next write directly about a terrorist family in a detached way that carries a knock-out punch. These poems fly about everywhere like birds and are as disconcerting.” — John Drew, Convenor, Cambridge Poetry Workshop “Poems of sweetness and music, warning and prayer, tough rain and straight talk—‘dreamlike pools you could walk into without drowning’.” — Sampurna Chattarji, poet and editor “Anuradha Vijayakrishnan is a wise, fierce, compassionate, and skilled poet who celebrates female power as movingly as any poet working in the English language.” — Richard Katrovas, Professor of English, Western Michigan University “…enjoying the dense and earthy imagery of the there’s an exuberant fertility and fruitfulness, countered by undertones of threat and bitter poison; a compelling combination of joy and doom.” — Martin Alexander, writer and editor

Genres: Poetry

118 pages

Published September 1, 2022

About the author

Anuradha Vijayakrishnan was born in Cochin, India. A trained singer, she followed up a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from Calicut University with postgraduate studies in Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. She lives with her husband and two young children in Dubai and attempts to balance a corporate career with her diverse interests.
Her poetry first appeared in print under the editorship of Ms. Kamala Das. Granta and British Council first published her fiction in the select New Writing anthology series. Her work has appeared in Magma, Orbis, Stony Thursday Book, The Pedestal Magazine, Soundings, Aesthetica, Asian Cha, Eclectica, Asia Literary Review, Mascara, Indian Literature and Nth Position among others. Her poetry and prose have won prizes at various literary competitions. Seeing the Girl, her debut novel, was long listed in 2007 while it was still a manuscript for the Man Asian Literary Prize. In 2010 her poetry was nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes. She is a 2010 alumna of Western Michigan University’s Prague Summer Program.
Seeing the Girl, was published in Feb 2014 by LiFi Publications, India.

Reviews

[Malcolm Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chanced upon this book while looking for poetry publishers, and am I glad to have found it!

Vijayakrishnan explores diverse themes in this book. The poems have a distinct earthy flavour, and most of them cover relevant ideas, especially Butcher and Listen. For a debut collection, the poems here show good finesse.

Do read if you're looking for a fresh new voice in contemporary Indian poetry.

[Heera Unnithan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my most favourite book of poems

[Anuradha Vijayakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://kitaab.org/2018/12/22/book-re...