The Penguin Book of Indian Poets

A wonderful collection of contemporary Indian English poems. A must buy for all literary enthusiasts.

This is a great collection of work by emerging and established Indian poets. Definitely worth adding to your bookshelf, especially if you are a student or enthusiast.

No, this, isnt a book. Follow the rush of words, the line breaks, its whiteness, the photographs (each a Rodinesque statement), the short introductions, and even something as innocent and futile as turning pages that addicts of printers ink indulge in time and again (although they contribute nothing, the world remains still the same) by the time one headbutts to the end of this mammoth but wonderfully produced artpiece, you'll agree, no, this isnt a book. Something more. Its a historical document.A true labour of love, Penguins most revolutionary manufacture that should stand the test of time what with a stellar cast, a bunch of mavericks who chose to rebel using language as a weapon, a language that brings them together, us, and we arent even debating why Hindi should be our national language, and not English?But where else, in one book, would you find Hamraaz's Mandi House, Imtiaz Dharkers to miss america, Indra's Net by Siddhartha Bose, Two from Israel by Dom Moraes, Jeet Thayil's Wapsi ("cowardly assassinations replicate the ways God dons armor in India, in twenty fifteen"), AK Ramanujans The Black Hen, "bird withdrawing into leaf" (from Arundhathi Subramaniam's The End Of the World), Bhanu Kapil, Akhil Katyal, Nissim Ezekiel, Beef by Anindita Sengupta, Vikram Seth, Ranjit Hoskote ("craft me into this totality that never closes" and elsewhere "Everything will be used against you"), Tishani Doshi, one can go on and on, without an end, which is what history is.An everturning wheel, popping like champagne corks, names who fascinates us with their deeds, in this case, with words, showing us how to use them, bend and shape language like its clay.If this is a book, then I have no doubt it will have baromteric repercussions. Its sales figure will determine the India we are to become, whether dear hope will leave us or embrace. This is a seed factory. Budding writers, intellectuals, thinkers and hot blooded revolutionaries hoping how, with what you can make a difference - here it is. Maybe a book will change nothing, but words, how we use them, when we have nothing else, will. And this book will show how.Penguin, well done. Jeet Thayil 《hug & rehug》. Madhu Kapparath, your photographs are gold, statements that shall stand the test of time. As will be the 94 poets featured here. (Incidentally, since priorities - or its lack, since to prioritise is the choice offered only to the Haves - rob me of my desire to own (artists, by rule, are anti-capitalists), ended up referring it to many, and this review owes itself to some of their graciousness, or inability to say no).One turnaround, and this will be mine. One day. Until then - Get it. Get it. Get it.

Excellent book. Slightly unhappy with the packing of book. Also the bind is not upto mark.

A very good and wide ranging selection of poets and poems. An excellent entry point to contemporary Indian English poetry. However, it is marred by arrogance and cultural blindness by claiming that Indian English poetry is a sole representative of modern Indian poetry when hundreds of modern poets have been writing in hundreds of of Indian languages. K Satchidanandan who seems to be a sole representative of non English Indian poetry apart from the usual bilingual poets has a much better selection titled Signatures brought out by National Book Trust, New Delhi from diverse Indian languages.

...is how the book arrived

I was able to read poems written by eleven poets under the sample download.The screen shot list contains titles of poems I liked; poets name in short (letters) before the poem.Unquoted titles and XXX mark implies- no comments. 6/11Must congratulate the author for attempting to bring our this book of anthology!

It's an exercise in power as well as mediocrity to have excluded such an exemplary poet as Gopi Kottoor, who was in fact anthologized in the previous collection