How an anonymous poetry page on Instagram is bringing hope to political activism

Hamraaz is an anonymous poet on Instagram writing about instances of oppression.

Yamini Krishnan

· Jun 11, 2023 · 07:30 am

‘The indulgence of examining my own psyche using words seems so narcissistic’: Poet Prerna Gill

‘Through writing, I examine how I’ve been compromised by fears, stillness that some may call the blues, other’s ennui, or even laziness.’

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri

· May 28, 2023 · 07:30 am

‘Poetry gives me the chance to confess even when I’m not in the act of confession’: Poet Kiran Bhat

‘I pride myself on being an experimental writer, and I don’t like to make things just for the sake of finding an audience.’

Vinita Agrawal

· May 13, 2023 · 05:30 pm

‘A critical reading of the Ramayana opened me up to its riches’: Poet Vivek Narayanan

‘The only way to keep tradition alive is, ironically, through innovation.’

Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas

· Apr 16, 2023 · 05:30 pm

‘My kind of ideas are practical ideas. There is nothing ideological about them’: Poet Vijay Seshadri

‘In the macroscopic world of poetry, poets are still dealing with the issue of vocalisation and whether they like it not, they are committed to natural speech.’

Jeet Thayil

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John Wilkinson

· Apr 09, 2023 · 08:30 am

‘Failure is an opportunity. Failure is art. Failure is human’: Poet Raena Shirali

‘I reference that these poems are failures – failures to embody another persona and fully understand a phenomenon so far from my personal experience.’

Mariyam Haider

· Feb 11, 2023 · 08:30 am

‘The poetic and the political has to go together’: Akhil Katyal on reading and writing poetry

Akhil Katyal on his favourite poets, translating Agha Shahid Ali’s poetry, editing an anthology of queer poetry from South Asia, and more.

Sayari Debnath

· Sep 18, 2022 · 12:30 pm

Meet Rajiv Mohabir, the Guyanese poet of Indian origin who writes to remind himself that he is alive

Migration is his ‘dharma’, and his world in poetry stretches to colonialism, linguistic identity, religiosity, and his ancestors.

Urvashi Bahuguna

· Jul 27, 2020 · 07:45 am

‘It’s how they roll on your tongue that matters, not how they sit on the page’: Poet Mani Rao

An interview with the Bengaluru-based poet and translator who has one of the most distinctive writing styles in India.

Rohini Kejriwal

· Oct 07, 2018 · 07:00 am

Kashmir, Pakistan, Islam: How poet Fatimah Asghar’s different diasporas inform her work

‘When you’re a person of colour in America you kind of operate without a home.’

Urvashi Bahuguna

· Jun 24, 2018 · 08:30 am

‘I believe in being the fringe. It helps keep my poetry alive’: How Naran is redefining Tamil poetry

The award-winning poet believed a writer cannot be apolitical but thinks voting is an exercise in futility.

Kavitha Muralidharan

· Jun 10, 2018 · 06:30 pm

Inspiring poet or scripted performer? Rupi Kaur refuses to be labeled as one or the other

At the Jaipur Literature Festival, Rupi Kaur won over the crowd but didn’t change the minds of her critics. The poet, however, is fine with that.

Harsimran Gill

· Feb 11, 2018 · 06:30 pm