Meena Alexander, described as “undoubtedly one of the finest poets in contemporary times” (The Statesman), has a brilliant new collection of poems called Atmospheric Embroidery (2015). The poems evoke themes of migration, war, dislocation, conflict, love and divinity in lines of precise grace. The poem, “Bright Passage”, from this book was featured on the wall of the Smithsonian for the 2014 exhibition “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Remake the Nation”. Alexander’s Illiterate Heart won the PEN Open Book Award and she has received awards from the Guggenheim, Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundations as well as the Arts Council of England.
Year: 2016