By Sunil Bhandari
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.
This is the second part of the conversation with Sophia Naz.
Sophia Naz is a bilingual poet, artist, author, editor and translator. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize; in 2016 for creative nonfiction and in 2018 for poetry. Her work features in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Poets, The Night Heron Barks, Singing in the Dark: A Global Anthology of Poetry Under Lockdown, Berfrois, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Rattle, The Punch Magazine, Poetry At Sangam, Poetry International Rotterdam, The Adirondack Review, The Wire, Chicago Quarterly Review, Blaze Vox, Scroll, The Daily O, Cafe Dissensus, RAIOT, Ideas And Futures, Chapati Mystery, Guftugu, Pratik, Gallerie International, Coldnoon, VAYAVYA, The Bangalore Review, Papercuts, Madras Courier, The Yearbook of Indian Poetry and many others. She has authored the poetry collections — Peripheries (Cyberhex, 2015), Pointillism (Copper Coin, 2017) Date Palms (City Press, 2017) Open Zero (Yoda Press, 2021), and Shehnaz, a biography (Penguin Random House, 2019).
Bark Archipelago is her fifth collection of poetry.
I first met Sophia at the Delhi Poetry Festival last year. We were both in the same session, reading our poetry, and the session got delayed. We had a good time furiously cribbing about the delay. Of course, we finally got to our poetry, and I was completely floored by what she read.
Her poetry was cerebral, fun, layered - it was like an intellectual puzzle that needed to be uncovered, layer by layer.
So when Dibyajyoti Sarma, the heart and soul of Red River Publications, asked me to have her as my first guest to begin the Second Season of Red River sessions, I was completely delighted.
Before we started this conversation, we promised each other that it would be no longer than 20 minutes. You can see where we ended finally. I decided not to edit much of the conversation because it was so delightful and stimulating - and there were so many interesting things which Sophia had to talk about.
Her latest collection of poetry, Bark Archipelago, published in March 2023 from Red River in India and Weavers Press San Francisco in USA.
Sukrita says - "Literary success lies in the joy I get while in the very process of writing and then the glee in actually being able to finish a poem. The rest of it is rather superficial and temporary."
Welcome to Red River Sessions, which is a collaboration between Red River, the premier independent house for poetry and Uncut Poetry, the much loved poetry podcast. I am your host Sunil Bhandari, and in this episode we are speaking to the renowned poet Sukrita Paul Kumar.
Sukrita was born in Nairobi, Kenya and emigrated to India when Kenya obtained its freedom from the British. As director of a UNESCO project on 'The Culture of Peace', she edited Mapping Memories - a volume of Urdu short stories from India and Pakistan. She has published several collections of poetry as well as academic books and critical writing. She's recently edited the The Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2020-21 along with Vinita Agarwal.
And with Red River she has published the sparkling and incandescent Country Drive, co-written with Yasmin Ladha.
Get the book on Amazon.
So Sukrita and I had discussed the general drift of questions for the interview. Instead what transpired was a completely freewheeling conversation - and what a talk it turned out to be!
We talked about Plath, death, influence of talented fathers, the blessing and curse of poetry, the meaning of life, her first book, about maintaining innocence in fractured times, Jiddu Krishnamurthy’s teaching on focus, the criticality of independent publishing houses, the thrill of holding onto a tree, and a hundred other things!
This is a peerless episode from Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Following are the details of the music used in this episode -
Music: 1000 Lichter by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3161-1000-lichter
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://www.sascha-ende.de
Music: Adventure by Alexander Nakarada
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/6092-adventure
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/
Music: Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
To know Shobhana is to know the essence of grace and gratefulness which suffuses her work. I have time and again, on reading her poems, kept the book down and held back my emotions. She gets to the heart of the matter with quick acuity, but an understanding, which is gentle, kind. She holds the reader close to her heart, as she leads him through her hurting poetry.
Shobhana Kumar has two collections of poetry: The Voices Never Stop (2012) and *Conditions Apply (2014), from Writers Workshop, Kolkata. Her work has been anthologized in journals and books of poetry and Japanese short forms. Her poem, ‘Just Married’ was selected and translated by Gulzar in his monumental work, A Poem a Day, published by HarperCollins. She has authored six books of non-fiction covering biographies, corporate, industrial, and educational histories. Her short stories have been published or are forthcoming in a few anthologies. Kumar is Poetry Editor of Sonic Boom Journal and its imprint, Yavanika Press. She is also part of The Quarantine Train, a poetry workshop founded by Arjun Rajendran. She works in the spaces of corporate communication, branding and advertising, and education. Along with a group of friends, she runs Small Differences, an NGO working with elderly, abandoned people and the transgender community.
Her latest book “A Sky Full of Bucket Lists” is published by the finest independent publisher of poetry Red River. It was chosen by the redoubtable Arundhathi Subramanian as one of the finest books of 2021.
It can be purchased on Amazon or Papyrus
She spoke to me at length about her poetry, her growing up in Lovedale, the work she does in her NGO and why Mary Oliver is such an inspiration.
This is a peerless episode from Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Following are the details of the music used in this episode-
From my Heart With Love by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6267-from-my-heart-with-love
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Adventure by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6092-adventure
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-tale
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Bina stole my heart from the time I met her, a few years back, in a poetry extravaganza where I was the Master of Ceremonies and Bina headlined a stellar galaxy of poets. She was there with her husband, the renowned photographer Rafique Ellias, and I knew I was in the presence of two wonderful souls from the first hello. Her poetry had a power which her slender frame and gentle voice belied. And as I came to know the breadth of her interests and the depth of her commitments to causes, I became a lifelong fan. Bina is the very definition of a Renaissance woman, if there ever was one.
Bina is a poet, of course, but also an editor, designer and publisher of International Gallerie, a global arts and ideas journal (www.gallerie.net) founded by her in 1997. She is also an art curator, having curated several important exhibits of renowned artists. She taught herself graphic design and has been invited by artists, galleries, photographers, poets to design their books and catalogues.
Her books of poetry include The Room, Fuse, When Seeing is Believing and the latest Song of a Rebel and Other Selected Poems brought to you by Red River Publishers. Her poems have been translated into Arabic, Urdu, French, Greek and Chinese. And FUSE has been taught at the Towson University in Maryland, USA.
In this engaging and story-filled episode of Red River Sessions, Bina talks how the rebel in her governed her choices as a child, in marriage, in starting her own magazine - and how a life well lived is the one in which you back your own choices.
Her latest book, Song of a Rebel and Other Selected Poems, published by Red River, can be purchased at -
https://www.amazon.com/Song-Rebel-Other-Selected-Poems/dp/8194816432
https://papyrus.catalog.to/s/gallery/papyrus---the-book-store/red-river-poetry/brf/product/-MgKpqKzd-kWu8aQ2RP2
This is a peerless episode from Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Following are the details of the music used in this episode-
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Melodic Interlude Two by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6394-melodic-interlude-two
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sadness Background Piano And Cello by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/8315-sadness-background-piano-and-cello
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Flucht (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3146-flucht-romeos-erbe-
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Imagefilm 002 by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/46-imagefilm-002
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Publish by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/25-publish
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
"Ishq, the word reverberates
Mizaaj, the mood
If desire has a leitmotif
The freshwater dramas
Intezaar…"
("One Indian City, Two Indian Lovers" from Siddharth Dasgupta's The Moveable East)
When I read Siddharth Dasgupta's latest book of poetry, I had a sense of light bursting out of the pages - even when he delved into darknesses. He writes of places with an intimacy which brings with it an overwhelming sense of desire, loss and loneliness. He says "Poetry is a daily prayer" and every poem of his is a testimony to that.
Siddharth Dasgupta is a writer of poetry & fiction. A Moveable East is his fourth book; others include Letters From an Indian Summer (Fingerprint) and The Sacred Sorrow of Sparrows (Niyogi). His words have appeared in literary journals across the world, while he has read in places like Mandalay, Bombay, Galle and Istanbul. Occasionally, Siddharth explores fragments of travel and culture for a smattering of publications. He lives within the swirling nostalgias of the city of Poona.
He can be reached at -
Instagram - @citizen.bliss
https://citizenbliss.squarespace.com/
His latest book, A Moveable East, published by Red River, can be purchased at -
https://www.amazon.in/dp/8194509386
and
https://papyrus.catalog.to/s/papyrus---the-book-store/red-river-poetry/brf
This is a peerless episode from Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Following are the details of the music used in this episode -
Melodic Interlude Two by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6394-melodic-interlude-two
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Flucht (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3146-flucht-romeos-erbe-
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Tranquil Fields Peaceful by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5769-tranquil-fields-peaceful
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Cinematic Background Sad by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/8181-cinematic-background-sad
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Nabina Das is an iconoclast and one of the finest poets of our times.
She has just released an incredible collection of poems - Witness: the Red River Book of Poetry of Dissent, with poems from 250 of the finest poets of our times.
In this episode of Red River Sessions presented by Uncut Poetry, Nabina talks about the genesis of this magnum opus, the struggles of putting together something so huge, as also the sheer ecstasy of discovering poets whose poems completely cut her heart up. She also talks about her childhood in Guwahati, the heady mix of politics and spirituality swirling in her household, and how dissent was infused early into her blood by the strong women in her life.
Nabina says - "I write because I feel that living on words and the experiences they generate is an extra nourishment one can have other than just eating, sleeping, and living on. I’m feral that way. I scavenge and brood into the darkness of the heart and the world, looking for words."
Nabina is a Sahapedia-UNESCO fellow, a Charles Wallace Creative Writing alumna (Stirling University), and a 2016 Commonwealth Writers Organisation featured Correspondent. Born and brought up in Guwahati, Nabina's poetry collections include Into the Migrant City, Blue Vessel and Sanskarnama, which was mentioned as one of the best poetry books of 2018 by Open Magazine. Her first novel was Footprints in the Bajra (2010) , and her short fiction volume was titled The House of Twining Roses (2014).
Nabina writes and translates in English, Assamese and Bengali, while her poetry has been translated into Croatian, French, Bengali, Malayalam, and Urdu.
This is a peerless episode from Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Witness: the Red River Book of Poetry of Dissent is available with the following links -
Purchase link for INDIA: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8194816475
Purchase link for ELSEWHERE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/8194816475
You can get the book at further discount at the following link:
https://papyrus.catalog.to/s/papyrus---the-book-store/red-river-poetry/brf
Following are the details of the music used in this episode:
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Virtutes Instrumenti by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4590-virtutes-instrumenti
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Parting of the Ways - Part 2 by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4196-parting-of-the-ways---part-2
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Anamalie by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4980-anamalie
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Rustic Ballad by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4720-rustic-ballad
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Round Drums by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4308-round-drums
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Robert Wood's poetry is sonorous, uplifting and has embedded within it the smells, sounds, textures, bruises and memories of the ancient land he stays in. Robert lives in Boorloo on Noongar Country in the East Indian Ocean in Australia, but has roots in Kerala in India through his mother. His two books Redgate and A Guide to Field and Woods are a personal journey into the memory and reality of the indigenous life in Australia and the traces he finds in himself from India.
Robert Wood is interested in love, community, and nature. He has been an editor, unionist, and teacher, and volunteered for prisoners, refugees, and student activists. Robert is currently the Creative Director of the Centre for Stories and the Chair of PEN Perth.
Robert Wood is interested in enlightenment, dream, and people. He says -
The Poet is made | of iron clay bronze rice pearl | but music
| but stars | but loam ochre silk and | reef | saltwater woods
filled with eels | snakes | beneath a surface seen by gulls who
nest on the beach | be sea eagle in branch of tree | by moth red
as dawn is rosy | everyday rise | the Poet | is made and made |
again | is made
This is Red Rivers Sessions presented to you by Uncut Poetry. In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Books by Robert Wood are available in Amazon, at www.redriver.co.in and select bookstores.
Details of the music used in this episode are as follows:
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sentimental Cinematic Upbeat Trailer by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/8050-sentimental-cinematic-upbeat-trailer
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Reaching The Sky [Long Version] by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6222-reaching-the-sky--long-version
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Soni Somarajan says he has lived two different lives in a single lifetime.
The first part is all memory and the second part is the world today. And he fears he might lose the first due to the enormity of the second. Because for the last 30 years, Soni has borne the brunt of a progressive neuromuscular disorder. Two thirds of the time, he has to make do with a permanent sidekick - a wheelchair. It's almost as if he has accessed a parallel world.
In his seminal poem "Dream Selfie", he says -
The next morning,
all of it comes back to me,
as always.
I’m running;
wish I knew where.
The grass is spangled dew,
light twitches, ripe lemon.
At the far end, the earth
nosedives.
What’s beyond I can’t see.
With these muscles
I’m pleased —
smooth, speedy.
I accelerate at will.
No acid build, just
the kick of fleeting feet.
I almost fly.
Wait.
I can’t catch up —
whispers my wheelchair.
Soni Somarajan is a poet, copywriter, editor and content consultant. His poetry and writings have featured in several anthologies, magazines and journals. An alumnus of the University of Iowa's IWP Advanced Poetry Summit 2013, Soni is the Creative Head of The Quarantine Train, a poetry collective, and he lives in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
His book of peerless poems "First Contact" is a continuing bestseller.
Welcome to Red River Sessions, which is presented by Uncut Poetry, where we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
This podcast can be heard on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, Anchor, Google Podcasts, and anywhere you get your podcasts from!
Details of music used in this episode -
The Forest and the Trees by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4494-the-forest-and-the-trees
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Touching Story by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4540-touching-story
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3863-heartbreaking
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Imagefilm 031 by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/532-imagefilm-031
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Imagefilm 043 by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3231-imagefilm-043
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The Positive Way Of Hope Piano Solo by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7522-the-positive-way-of-hope-piano-solo
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sentimental Travel by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6968-sentimental-travel
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Madhu Raghavendra is nothing short of a magician. A product of many geographies, he is a polyglot, a poet, an activist, known as much for his poetry which shimmers with the aromas, dialects and sighs of the land he loves so much, as he is for his art event curation, and his poetry movement, Poetry Couture, which attempts to create free spaces for poetry. His debut poetry "Make me Some Love to Eat" is now in its fifth edition. His second poetry collection is "Stick No Bills"
Welcome to Red River Sessions, which is presented by Uncut Poetry, where we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
This podcast can be heard on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, Anchor, Google Podcasts, and anywhere you get your podcasts from!
Details of music used in this episode -
Betonwaldromantik by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/374-betonwaldromantik
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Virtutes Instrumenti by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4590-virtutes-instrumenti
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-tale
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.