Dinanath Nadim: Kashmir’s forgotten poet by Mohan K. Tikku

First posted March 09, 2017 The most outstanding figure in 20th century Kashmiri literature has also been the least published poet of his generation. To his many readers and admirers, Dinanath Nadim has been a bit of a paradox. In a literary career extending over half a century, Nadim (1916-89) wrote a lot but published little. Partly,… Read More Dinanath Nadim: Kashmir’s forgotten poet by Mohan K. Tikku

University Of Kashmir Removes Works Of Agha Shahid Ali, Basharat Peer From MA English And BA Courses

Professor Neerja Mattoo writes: “Though Shahid was not based in Kashmir after he left to do his Masters in English from Delhi University, Kashmir stayed close to his heart. His regular visits to the land of his birth kept him in touch with his friends and the developments here. The events of the nineties, the… Read More University Of Kashmir Removes Works Of Agha Shahid Ali, Basharat Peer From MA English And BA Courses

Solace and saudade

In the face of an inscrutable, indifferent universe, Pessoa suggests we cultivate a certain longing for the elusive horizon Jonardon Ganeri In elusive point sits on the horizon. A deep yearning stirs within to move closer to this point, perhaps in search of the unknown, perhaps in search of questions without answers. It is a… Read More Solace and saudade

The Mountain

Song by KT Tunstall See out the side of my eyeA pick-pocket city in darknessBodies shifting, I am driftingThrough the sodium light Mind feels like an alarmHeat like it’s trying to harm meBody twitching, something missing in my soul tonight Scream of a sirenBow my head as another one goes downGotta get goneGotta get goneGotta… Read More The Mountain

Flare

A poem by Mary Oliver (b 1935) 1. Welcome to the silly, comforting poem. It is not the sunrise,which is a red rinse,which is flaring all over the eastern sky; it is not the rain falling out of the purse of God; it is not the blue helmet of the sky afterward, or the trees,… Read More Flare

Enheduanna, princess, priestess and the world’s first known author

Louise Pryke The world’s first known author is widely considered to be Enheduanna, a woman who lived in the 23rd century BCE in ancient Mesopotamia (approximately 2285 – 2250 BCE). Enheduanna is a remarkable figure: an ancient “triple threat”, she was a princess and a priestess as well as a writer and poet. The third… Read More Enheduanna, princess, priestess and the world’s first known author

Michael Longley: Literature should not be changed to remove ‘complexities’

By Cormac Campbell The poet Michael Longley has said that the “complexities and difficulties of literature” must not be simplified to fit changing outlooks. He was speaking after an event in his honour at Armagh’s Robinson Library marking his Feltrinelli International Prize for Poetry last year. At the event the 83-year-old reprised the lecture he… Read More Michael Longley: Literature should not be changed to remove ‘complexities’