Bayeux Arts, 2011 eISBN: 978-1-897411-57-5 | Paper: 978-1-897411-32-2 Library of Congress Classification PR9199.4.C4784C53 2011
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Someone once asked Ayesha Chatterjee what idiom she wrote in. She still doesn’t know what the answer to that is, but the poems in this collection attempt to address the issue behind that question: that of belonging versus the universality of experience. Written in spare language and often using metaphors drawn from both Eastern and Western sources, these poems pare down the complexity of existence in today’s global world into simple moments of truth. Much of her poetry is very short, ten lines or less, some of it is photographic and all of it is approachable. Chatterjee believes that the power of poetry is in its accessibility and this is reflected in the simplicity of her writing. Her poetry is intended to pry her readers out of complacency into looking at the world differently, perhaps even into thinking of their place in it. There is a soft thread of violence running thinly through this collection juxtaposed against the imagery in much the same way as the intention of her approach.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ayesha Chatterjee was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. She has lived in India, England and the USA and recently relocated to Toronto after eighteen years of living and working in Germany. She graduated cum laude in English Literature and German Studies from Smith College, Massachusetts where one of her most vividly remembered courses was a lyric poetry class taught by Joseph Brodsky. Her first exposure to the public eye was when one of her poems was shortlisted in the inaugural Guardian Unlimited Poetry Workshop in October 2004 by poet-in-residence, Ruth Fainlight. Two more poems were singled out in later Guardian Poetry Workshops by poets Tony Curtis and Forward Prize winner Sean O’Brien. Her poetry has appeared in nthposition,autumn sky poetry and BluSlate. In 2010 she read at the Poetry with Prakriti Festival in Chennai, India. The Clarity of Distance is her first poetry collection.
Someone once asked Ayesha Chatterjee what idiom she wrote in. She still doesn’t know what the answer to that is, but the poems in this collection attempt to address the issue behind that question: that of belonging versus the universality of experience. Written in spare language and often using metaphors drawn from both Eastern and Western sources, these poems pare down the complexity of existence in today’s global world into simple moments of truth. Much of her poetry is very short, ten lines or less, some of it is photographic and all of it is approachable. Chatterjee believes that the power of poetry is in its accessibility and this is reflected in the simplicity of her writing. Her poetry is intended to pry her readers out of complacency into looking at the world differently, perhaps even into thinking of their place in it. There is a soft thread of violence running thinly through this collection juxtaposed against the imagery in much the same way as the intention of her approach.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ayesha Chatterjee was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. She has lived in India, England and the USA and recently relocated to Toronto after eighteen years of living and working in Germany. She graduated cum laude in English Literature and German Studies from Smith College, Massachusetts where one of her most vividly remembered courses was a lyric poetry class taught by Joseph Brodsky. Her first exposure to the public eye was when one of her poems was shortlisted in the inaugural Guardian Unlimited Poetry Workshop in October 2004 by poet-in-residence, Ruth Fainlight. Two more poems were singled out in later Guardian Poetry Workshops by poets Tony Curtis and Forward Prize winner Sean O’Brien. Her poetry has appeared in nthposition,autumn sky poetry and BluSlate. In 2010 she read at the Poetry with Prakriti Festival in Chennai, India. The Clarity of Distance is her first poetry collection.