India’s government, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, implemented the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in March 2024. Opponents of the law — which fast-tracks citizenship for undocumented, non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — decry the ways in which it discriminates against Muslims. As they did when the law was passed in 2019,… Continue reading Indian protesters look to poetic tradition to resist Modi’s Hindu nationalism
There is a striking photo, taken in 2015, of a deactivated nuclear missile at an air and space museum in Tucson, Arizona. Written in dust on this missile are the words, “Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”. These words, from the Sanskrit scriptural text the Bhagavad Gita, are famously attributed to J… Continue reading ‘Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds’ – the Bhagavad Gita explained
“Italy had its renaissance, Germany its reformation, France had Voltaire”, the historian Will Durant once commented. Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694-1778) was known in his lifetime as the “patriarch” of the French enlightenment. A man of extraordinary energy and abilities, he produced some 100 volumes of poetry, fiction, theatre, biblical and literary criticism, history and… Continue reading Voltaire’s Candide — a darkly satirical tale of human folly in times of crisis
Diaries, Erasing False Lines and Annie Ernaux The ability to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing is a skill gradually acquired and perfected by the most avid readers. Some may attribute it to a simple game of recognition, where the skill of a writer is compared to the skill of their literary forefathers. If it… Continue reading Authenticity: a writer’s necessity
As of June 2023, the Forward Poetry Prizes will award the first literary prize for spoken word poets,with a best spoken poem category being awarded alongside the best written poem category. But, why has it taken this long for spoken word poetry to gain this recognition and why now? Currently, the standard for poetry at… Continue reading Why we stopped listening to spoken poetry – and then tuned back in
Katabasis — “a going down” — etymology: καταβαίνειν, Greek, “to descend”, from “κατα”, down, and “βαίνω”, I go. This essay deals with the question of how classical literary elements and mythology can be utilised in a way which enhances the critical and provocative in poetry which seeks to cut ties with tradition, in what at… Continue reading Classical katabasis in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
