Uddipana Goswami’s poetry collection titled “We Called the River Red: Poetry from a Violent Homeland” was recently published by Author’s Press, Delhi. This publishing house has also earlier published poetry by Jayanta Mahapatra.
Uddipana has been talking at various forums – most recently at the ICRC-WFS seminar on ‘Women in Conflict Zones: Survivors and Peace Makers’ on 22 September 2009 at IIC, Delhi – on poetry being both personal and political and on the need for more politically conscious literature. This is Uddipana’s contribution in this regard.
The poems in the collection have been strung together to represent a narrative of the coming of age of a poetic conscience in exile. Each poem speaks of a different stage in the development of politics, personality, and perception of its author. Together, they tell the story of how the poet has learnt to come to terms with her identity, the ‘mainland’ mentality she is confronted with everyday, and the fears and conflicts besetting her peripheralized homeland.
Uddipana Goswami is from Assam in Northeast India, a region of rich indigenous cultures but also of insurgency, ethnic conflicts and consequent militarization, all of which informs her writings. She is Assamese literature editor of ‘Muse India’, a literary e-journal. Her creative works have been published or are forthcoming in the journals ‘Brief’ (New Zealand), ‘Pratilipi’ (India), ‘Etchings’ (Australia), ‘Chandrabhaga’ (India), ‘Muse India’ (India), ‘The Other Voices International Project’ (online), ‘Geometer’ (UK online), ‘XCP Streetnotes’ (online). Her poetry has also appeared in ‘Tonight: An Anthology of World Love Poetry’ (South Africa). When not writing poetry, Uddipana is a media consultant, researcher and translator. For more: www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com.
Jugal Kalita, Colorado
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