‘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

‘Only political stupidities or atrocities excite me to write verse now’: Keki N Daruwalla

An interview with the poet and novelist, now in his 80s, who refuses to slow down.

Rohini Kejriwal

· Jan 21, 2018 · 05:45 pm

‘What is it about heterosexual love that can make it incompatible with a truly feminist life?’

In an interview, poet, short-story writer and columnist Sharanya Manivannan has questions of her own.

Nikita Deshpande

· Jan 06, 2018 · 12:30 pm

‘At 64 I’m beginning to wonder whether I have any more poems left in me’: Manohar Shetty

An interview with the poet on the occasion of the publication of his Collected Works.

Rohini Kejriwal

· Dec 19, 2017 · 08:30 am

‘Poetry has always been a compulsion through my life’: Bina Sarkar Ellias

An interview with the poet and cultural diversity champion.

Rohini Kejriwal

· Nov 26, 2017 · 05:30 pm

‘When images and cadences come the right way, it’s part relief, part celebration’: Ranjit Hoskote

An interview with the poet (and translator and cultural theorist and curator) on his craft, his reading, his life.

Rohini Kejriwal

· Oct 29, 2017 · 03:30 pm

Why birdwatching and writing poetry are strikingly similar for this poet

‘You must wait for the bird to emerge. Just like poetry.’ An interview with poet and photographer Nitoo Das.

Urvashi Bahuguna

· Oct 21, 2017 · 07:00 am