My top 10 Indian English Poets to look out for by Dr Farah Siddiqui Matin

“BE IT debates, cultural collabora­tions or impressive work, Indian English poets have played a mo­mentous role in recent years.

“With a slender, yet distinct space, these poets have been at the forefront of literary activities in India and abroad. Here are 10 admirable Indi­an English poets who never fail to surprise us with their poetic pursuits,” said Dr Farah Siddiqui Matin.

Tishani Doshi: Welsh-Indian writer Tishani Doshi won the 2006 Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A poet and dancer, Tishani’s carefully-craft­ed poems analyse human emotions through love and loss. Meticulous deliberations over death and disaster provoke readers to delve deep into her work. She has travelled widely, presenting her thought-provoking works to the world. Her latest collec­tion Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods was released in 2017, and 2018 surely looks decked out for her innovative ventures.

K Satchidanandan: Primarily known as a Malayalam poet, K Satchidanan­dan has often surprised us with his English poems. With a writing career of about 50 years, he has penned over 20 collections of poetry and bagged multiple National Awards, honours from the government of Po­land, a Knighthood of the Order of Merit and Dante Medal from Italy. Satchidanandan upholds the right to dissent through poetry and literature.

Keki Daruwalla: A recipient of the Sahitya Aka­demi Award in 1984 and the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1987, the poet refuses to stop even after a writing career of over four decades. Deep in sensitivity and profound in tone, Keki Daruwalla’s poems have often encompassed the changing contours of Indian English poetry. No matter in what direction the style of poetry-writing moves, Keki is al­ways a name to look out for.

Manohar Shetty: The Goa-based po­et has the capability to rip you apart through his verses. A tour through the poet’s works is like knowing a person’s personal life, and at the same time the life of many others’ across the globe. The widely antholo­gised poet and fellow of the Sahitya Akademi poet is at once local and in­ternational. Moving out of the radical modernism, Manohar Shetty’s Full Disclosure, released in 2017, shows us the contours of contemporary In­dian English poetry.

Sonnet Mondal: Kolkata-based, poet and cura­tor Sonnet Mondal’s lyri­cism can take you deep inside human emotions. Author of Ink and Line, Sonnet can nurture the rapture in dead leaves and abandoned houses. Widely anthologised across every continent, he has pre­sented his fine works at some of the most coveted international festivals. A poet who creates an aperture to show ‘everything is not everything’, Sonnet has been responsible for many literary collaborations across the globe.

Arundhathi Subramaniam: Mystic and profound, the innovative poet’s fresh turns of phrase is a feast for language lovers. She is an explorer, relating uncertainties of life to hu­man attachments. Her book When God Is A Traveller was the Season Choice of the Poetry Book Society in the UK and shortlisted for the TS Eli­ot Prize. Arundhathi won the first Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize in 2015 and has presented her poems in several high-profile events, including the Jaipur literature Festival.

Sridala Swami: An alumnus of writ­ing programs at The University of Stirling, Scotland and University of Iowa, Sridala Swami’s first collection of poems, A Reluctant Survivor, was published by The Sahitya Akademi in 2007. Her poems come as confessions and chisels out human pretensions. Rich in imagery, the poet has an aesthetic of her own that seems close to crude realities of life. She was a part of the Poets Translating Poets project in Germany and her collec­tion of poems Escape Artist was pub­lished in 2014. Sridala is definitely a poet on a mission.

K Srilata: Well known as a curator, she co-edited The Rapids of a Great River: The Penguin Book of Tamil Poetry. Known for her poignant verses, Srilata’s po­ems invoke various topics from per­sonal to harsh incidents. Srilata’s work has been widely anthologised - The Bloodaxe Anthology of Indian Poets, Fulcrum and Penguin India’s First Proofs to name a few. Tender yet poised, this poet surely has something in store for the coming years.

Anand Thakore: Widely anthologised in books like Sixty Indian Poets and Reasons For Belonging, Anand Thakore depicts his life and sur­roundings in re­alistic poems often with transparent imagery and lucid tones. The poet has three collections to his credit, the latest Seven Deaths and Four Scrolls. Bringing fresh tones and themes in each of his books, this poet may un­furl surprises in coming times.

Sharanya Manivannan: Sensuous and spiritual, Sharanya was the recipient of the Lavanya Sankaran Fel­lowship for 2008-2009. The poet plays with words and phrases dipping them with surprise and unworldliness. Her latest collec­tion of poems The Altar of the Only World brilliantly portrays the poet’s prowess with lyricism. Widely pub­lished all over the world, this young poetess never fails her readers as far as wonders in expression and thoughts are concerned.

• Dr Farah Siddiqui Matin (Phd) lives two lives between Ireland and India, and is the author of three col­lections of poetry.