‘Out of Syllabus’: Three poems from Sumana Roy’s dazzling debut collection

In these selections from her first poetry collection, the novelist and memoirist writes of desire, sadness and the violence faced by a woman in India.

Sumana Roy

· Apr 09, 2019 · 08:30 am

What happens when a wife goes missing? Sumana Roy’s debut novel is the study of a modern marriage

In ‘Missing’, the poet and memoirist presents a fictional reflection of contemporary politics and culture through an age-old question.

Sumana Roy

· Apr 10, 2018 · 08:30 am

The poet as architect: How poems are designed and constructed to convey the sense of space

The first in a series of workshops on learning the craft of poetry from the works of fine poets.

Sumana Roy

· Mar 11, 2018 · 10:30 am

How can Shakespeare’s ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’ be a love poem in blazing hot India?

An environmentally aware reading of the sonnet during a cruel Indian summer leads to odd results. But hilarity is assured.

Sumana Roy

· May 21, 2017 · 12:30 pm

Why a writer, poet and teacher wanted to turn into a tree

An excerpt from an unusual memoir. Note: This is not a work of magical realism.

Sumana Roy

· Feb 12, 2017 · 08:30 am

Remaking the nation: Why India should be renamed Undia

Something or the other is reversed every day: a new law tries to undo an older one, which gives way to another. This new ethic of whimsicality is the norm.

Sumana Roy

· May 14, 2016 · 08:00 am

Poetry that reminds us of the all too human – and animal – needs of our gods

A new translation of a classic brilliantly conveys both the bodily desire and the spiritual longing.

Sumana Roy

· Mar 05, 2016 · 01:30 pm

‘Go To Pakistan’. Or, how a modern proverb is born.

'You want your generation’s proverb to be victorious, as if wisdom were a bestselling category.'

Sumana Roy

· Nov 29, 2015 · 08:45 am

One hundred years of no solitude: ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ lives on in India

Published in June 1915 and arguably the best-known work of modern poetry in the world, T.S. Eliot’s poem is alive and well.

Sumana Roy

· Jun 07, 2015 · 07:30 pm

A novel about leaving home that you cannot leave home without

There may not be a more delightful character than Prasanti, the eunuch, in recent Indian fiction in English.

Sumana Roy

· May 10, 2015 · 04:30 pm

Anuradha Roy’s ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ is that rare being: a literary page-turner

Roy’s third novel uses the lost-and-found rhythm, the same dry-throat-biting-nails routine that marks midnight thrillers on TV.

Sumana Roy

· May 05, 2015 · 08:30 am

Why the woman is actually not on top in 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha'

In the end, the feminist parable must also collapse, for the position is not a mainstream one and cannot be allowed.

Sumana Roy

· Mar 21, 2015 · 02:30 pm