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This first-of-its-kind anthology showcases an array of the top poets (130 contributors) of this vast Asian region. The book contains the stylistically diverse Chinese poets Lian Yang, Liu Hongbin, Wang Ping and others who share a perspective on their homeland; the oriental touch of the Korean Chung Hee Moon and the Japanese Yosuke Tanaka; Maram al-Masri’s Franco- Syrian metaphors; Sholeh Wolpe’s Iranian-Americanisms, Rosa Jamali’s postcolonial lens on the Middle East; Nese Yasin’s bipolar/ binary Cypriot-Turk registers; politically urgent poetry from the Israeli-Palestinian region by Amir Or, Hava Pinhas-Cohen, Gili Haimovich and others; Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton’s supple art of prose poetry lending a unique Australian colour and diction; the exploration of the rich American and British South Asian diaspora by Moniza Alvi, Vidyan Ravinthiran, Indran Amirthanayagam and Ahilan Packiyanathan; the irony of Kaiser Haq and romanticism of Aminur Rahman from Bangladesh; the magic of the Urdu/Hindustani cadence by India’s Gulzar and Javed Akhtar; Kunwar Narain’s wise philosophical Hindi diction; Adil Jussawalla’s ironic and sparse Mumbai cosmopolitanism and Jayanta Mahapatra deeply-rooted Oriyan metaphors. The signposts are just the tip of the iceberg, acting as a teaser and taste of what you will find inside this volume — in addition to the new/upcoming voices that make the book balanced and truly contemporary. Enjoy the rich and vibrant poetic landscape of Asia.

The Best Asian Poetry 2021-22 (Edited by Sudeep Sen)

…In a moment of Naivety,

it seeks release from the grips of fatigue

lest it remains elusive, lost in a lament

of miscellaneous things.

Between sips of Masala Chai is a foray into a homemaker’s aromatic and often chaotic journey to catch a glimpse of herself while she navigates through the assorted roles.

The routine of sitting down with a cup of maslala chai is a gateway to the poet’s inner world and is a welcome interlude during the daily hum of activities. In the flux of domesticity, relationships, travel, nostalgia and loss, the poems interact converge and spill over one another with subtle irony and tenderness and emerge in an unexpected confluence similar to flavours brimming in her cup of masala chai.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shilpa Dikshit Thapliyal is a former computer professional turned home-maker turned writer who often refers to herself as the ‘accidental poet’. Amidst the endless grocery runs, school volunteering and chapatti making, she manages to squeeze in a verse or two. Her poems have been published in journals and anthologies in Singapore, India and the USA. She has self published her debut collection of poems titled 'Chimes of the Soul' (Singapore,2015). Shilpa resides in Singapore with her family. 

 

Between Sips of Masala Chai by Shilpa Dikshit Thapliyal

All the Shades of Truth, written during the pandemic, uses a new poetic lingua franca to delve into fatigue and isolation. The poet uses metaphors like Fibonacci Retracements and Tulipomania to put a lens on the twins of fear and greed that just do not seem to go away. Daswani’s poetry covers important world socio-political events: Never Forget is a paean to the heroes of 9/11 and Juneteenth an anthem for the emancipation of the enslaved. He uses haikus to write about Deepavali and his modern take on the Hindu marriage ritual Saptapadi is a first. His poems also reinterpret Greek myths and the great Indian epics.

All the Shades of Truth suggests that truth lies within interstitial greyness and is the sum of all perceptions. For the poet these perceptions are informed by a multi-sensory exploration of the opposites around him and the ever-present hope that lies at the frontier of despair.

Neil Daswani is a Singaporean author with an international background. He is a banker by day and a poet by night who now writes poetry prolifically and often in tandem with artists. 

All The Shades of Truth by Neil Daswani

The poems in this book were written over three decades and needed to be shared, before they moved away into redshift. Many of these poems are about love, both lost and found. This eclectic volume has something for every reader: verses about the balm and beauty of nature, high school physics, humour and occasionally the surreal. More recent poems explore the emptiness around Covid-19 or grieving and the hope that lies beyond. 

Neil Daswani is a Singaporean author with an international background. He is a banker by day and a poet by night who now writes poetry prolifically and often in tandem with artists. 

Redshift by Neil Daswani 

Urdu, which started as a lingua franca of the masses during the Mughal era in India, is one of the most popular languages of South Asia, and is widely used in Bollywood films.  There are between 60 and 70 million native speakers of Urdu in the world today.  Sadly, the new generation is losing access to this language due to a variety of reasons. Despite this deprivation, they often display a passion for the poetry of this beautiful language. This book is an attempt to present before them a small slice of Urdu’s best heritage in an easy to comprehend style.

The book was originally penned by Anees Ayesha, 75 who has taught Urdu language and literature in Hyderabad for over 50 years and is an avid promoter of the learning of Urdu among the new generations. She works closely with the Mehfil-i-Khawateen (A women writer’s collective) and Dabistan-i-Jaleeli (Set up to celebrate the works of Ali Ahmed Jaleeli), two organisations that are deeply involved in promoting the Urdu language and appreciation of its contribution to literature and culture in the sub continent.

Zafar Anjum, the translator of the book, is a writer and journalist and his most recent works include a work of non-fiction, The Resurgence of Satyam (Random House India, 2012), and a collection of short stories, The Singapore Decalogue: Episodes in the Life of a Foreign Talent (Red Wheelbarrow Books, Singapore, 2012).

Urdu Poetry: An Introduction by Anees Ayesha

On the Other Hand is an eclectic collection where the poet turns to nature and flora, sidereal rhythms and seasonal patterns as a salve for despair and isolation. The title, On the Other Hand, is perhaps a self-reflection by the poet to balance his corporate and creative sides.

Many of the poems are ekphrastic in nature and are emotive responses to paintings and photographs from a number of artists and photographers and are catalogued in this volume.
As in his previous books, the poet also serves up humorous verse on subjects ranging from Zoom calls and hard to spell names of flowers to ten pin bowling and the ‘s’ in Valentine’s Day.

Neil Daswani is a Singaporean author with an international background. He is a banker by day and a poet by night who now writes poetry prolifically and often in tandem with artists. 

On the Other Hand by Neil Daswani

Camera & Quill is a collaborative work of paired photograph-poems that explores how the camera and the quill interpret the same transient moment from individual reservoirs of reason and reflection.

Anita’s photographs (taken on various models of the iPhone) capture everyday moments of mood and meaning. They defy characterisation but have a strong underlying theme of light. For Neil, the freeze frames were a nudge and an invitation to shape-shift into poetry the saga and the song each photograph whispered to him.

This collection of work mines personal experiences and private philosophies, as evidenced by the separate titles given by the photographer and the poet to each paired photograph-poem.

About the Authors

Anita is a writer, photographer and media producer. She began her career in advertising before setting up Moving Pictures in India, a production house handling TV commercials and documentaries. 

In Indonesia and Singapore, Anita was a consultant producer and scriptwriter for ad films and documentaries, while writing extensively for corporate clients and non-profit organisations in the fields of advertising, design and public relations.

She designed, and continues to co-own and maintain SingaporeforKids, a website for Singapore residents and visitors.

Her first book, Senserly, Amako, was launched in Singapore in January 2018 at the ASEAN INDIA PBD Writer’s Festival. She has conducted workshops based on the book at literary festivals and schools in India and Singapore, and showcased her book at the Asia Pacific Writer’s & Translators conference in Australia and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. Find more about her at www.anitaathomas.com.

Neil Daswani is a naturalised Singaporean of Indian origin who has lived and worked in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East these past thirty-one years. This international background finds expression in his poetry which covers myriad themes from nature, mythology, humour, high school physics and history to the ebb and flow of love and relationships.

A banker by day and a poet by night, Neil writes poetry prolifically.

2020 has been a milestone year for him with the publication of three separate volumes of his poetry: Why Now?, Seen & Felt and Redshift.

Redshift was showcased as a new work of poetry at the October-November 2020 Singapore Writer's Festival.

Earlier, in June 2020, Seen & Felt, a collaborative volume of poetry with five of South Korea's leading contemporary artists, was launched in Seoul and showcased at the Seoul Modern Art Show. It was also simultaneously published in Singapore. In September 2020 both the poetry and the art were sponsored by the Arts Council Korea.

Camera & Quill by Anita A. Thomas & Neil Daswani

“Uncaged” is a passage of perception by Sagarika Majumdar containing a collection of poems from the perspective of youth – ranging from her thoughts to her viewpoints of people and events in their lives. True to its title, the author has uncaged her heart through poems which are honest and broad in their perceptions. Built over a period of time in the author’s teens, it is crafted with a passion for poetry and love for writing. 
With self-drawn, digitally made illustrations for every poem, the book is an embodiment of the author’s imagination and feelings. Poems range from “Uncaged” about freeing one’s heart and mind; “Warmth”, about human connection; “Ghost Stories”, a humorous, poetic narration of a visiting ghost; “The Drive”, an entirely metaphorical poem about life, and many more. 

Human and hopeful, it is a book about growth and the journey from teenage to adulthood. It is a compilation of the thoughts, interests and emotions that blossomed along the way. 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sagarika Majumdar had written a few poems from the age of six, but she was eleven when she wrote her first serious poem, about her favourite book – Harry Potter. It was then that she discovered her love for poetry, and with her family’s encouragement, took it up as a hobby. At the time of compilation, Sagarika is an eighteen-year-old student with a love for English and Economics. Living in various cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Singapore throughout her life, she has a fondness for languages and cultures. Other than writing poetry, she loves music, reading, and travelling. She derives inspiration from people, places, and lore; and is enthusiastic about mythology, history, and fantasy. Among several other things on her bucket list, Sagarika wants to skydive and bungee jump. 


Uncaged: A Passage of Perception - Poems by Sagarika Majumdar

Akhila’s Tamarind is a thought-provoking compendium in verse about life and her personal experience of it. Her words—flowing like a river and exuding fragrances of love, loss, longing, and fear—are a heart-tugging testament to the tamarind-like nature of life, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, and can carry the willing reader down memory lane where lie their own stories, perhaps long forgotten, of love, loss, longing, even fear.

Tamarind - Sweet and Sour Poems about Love, Loss, Longing, and Life by Akhila Mohan CG

Hundred poems, ten poets, two countries, one language ...

In the pages of Bengali little magazines of India and Bangladesh and the obscure recesses of an ever-vibrant literary culture, spring other voices, other words – another art of seeing. Hidden from the glare of mainstream writing and often ignored in the portals of high culture, secret wizards of verse are chiselling away at experience, conjuring up the poetry of a stricken time. 

A poetry which genuflects before no one while delivering its irreverent message in whispers or cat alls. The subterranean chambers of Bengali underground poetry echo with angst and experiment, glow in the blurry heat of passion or slip into a meditative silence as it plumbs the depths of the heart. This collection trawls the darkest corners of the Bengali literary universe offering to English language readers, the first glimpse of an uncharted ocean – its winds, storms and unstoppable tides. 

Poets: Agni Roy, Novera Hossain, Mitul Dutta, Tanmay Mridha, Atanu Chakrabortty, Gouranga Mondal, Shapla Shawparjita, Pratyush Bandopadhyay, Aysa Jhorna,  Arpan Chakraborty

Number of poems: 100

About the Translator

Rajat Chaudhuri has published six books - Butterfly Effect, Calcutta Nights (translation) Hotel Calcutta, The Best Asian Speculative Fiction (ed), Calculus (in Bengali) and Amber Dusk. He is the Charles Wallace Creative Writing Fellow (2014) at the University of Chichester, United Kingdom, Hawthornden Castle Fellow (2015) and a Korean Arts Council Fellow (2013) at Toji Cultural Centre, South Korea. Chaudhuri is a past Fellow of the Sangam House International Writers Residency.

Pre-order discount

The Great Bengali Poetry Underground (Translated by Rajat Chaudhuri)

Pre-order: The Great Bengali Poetry Underground (Translated by Rajat Chaudhuri)

In his debut book of poetry, Why Now?, Neil Daswani takes you on an eclectic journey signposted by references to Norse and Greek mythology; poetry from the Tang dynasty; Buddhist philosophy and Korean phonetics; the power of wild nature; humour as well as grief and bereavement. His poems on Covid-19 search for hope in unity.

"Neil's poems remind us that the poetic imagination is a way of knowing the world that is powerful, important and necessary; his poetry isn't an esoteric art form at the margins of culture, but an essential ingredient at the core of our humanity."

Ian Tymms,
Head of English, Middle School United World College, South East Asia

"Why Now? is an elegant compilation of transnational poetry that discovers new emotional truths in poetic lessons from the past. Touchstones include Tang dynasty poetry, Germanic word play and Scandinavian mythology, and from the present, Singapore’s twin cinema form. Adding an interesting tension is how poet Neil Daswani deploys multicultural content within the conventions of western rhyme patterns. This is a remarkably wide-ranging debut from a stylish poet unafraid to tackle the big subjects of loss and grief, and yet able to find delight in the small things of life, such as a stubborn lid on a marmalade jar. One reflects on the title, Why Now? and responds: This is a poet whose time has come."

Linda Collins, author of Loss Adjustment and the forthcoming poetry collection Sign Language for the Death of Reason

Why Now? by Neil Daswani

Why Now? by Neil Dasani

Seen & Felt, is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between five of South Korea’s renowned contemporary artists and Singaporean poet, Neil Daswani. Together they have created a synthesis of paintings and poetry. 

The Korean artists are: 
1. Mr. Inseob Lee: Currently Chairman of the Seoul Fine Art Association. His paintings are about nature and his art has been exhibited more than three hundred times.
2. Mr. Junggyo Lee: Previously the Chairman of Exhibition Design of the IDC, his work explores the intersection between space design and visual art 
3. Ms. Hyejo Kwon: She paints everyday scenes from her global travel and has held four solo exhibitions and thirty group exhibitions.
4. Mr. Seunghyun Lim: Renowned for his signature friendly and comfortable drawings, he is famous for hosting the TV program "Artist Next Door". He has held nine solo exhibitions and contributed work to more than a hundred exhibitions.
5. Ms. Kristal Oh: Her early art covered a range of abstract, mythical and historical topics She has directed over 200 exhibitions in Korea and the United States.

As this partnership progressed, the six collaborators realized that they needed no interpreter. Art has a language of its own! This collaboration is a great example of painting and poetry coming together across national boundaries, ethnicities and cultures. 

Seen & Felt was published on 25th May 2020 in Seoul and was launched at an exhibition at the Seoul Modern Art Show on May 30th 2020 and the paintings and photos were on display till June the 6th. 

So why the title: Seen & Felt? 

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."
-Leonardo da Vinci





Seen & Felt by Neil Daswani

Seen & Felt