Shash Trevett is a poet and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. Her poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies (including POETRY, Poetry London, Modern Poetry in Translation, Ambit  and The North), she has read widely across the U.K and internationally and is a…

For Seni Seneviratne “the personal is political and they’re always intertwined” – a sentiment Seni embodies not only in her poetry but also across her life, advocating against war and for human rights, amongst various other campaigns.  She is a…

Rishi Dastidar, a London-based poet of second-generation heritage, is a prolific reviewer, editor and arts activist, currently working for the Guardian, and acting as the chair of Wasafiri. Completing his Bachelors in Mansfield College, Oxford University, followed by a Masters…

Vidyan Ravinthiran is a poet, critic and scholar from the UK. He is known for his range of work exploring his Sri Lankan Tamil heritage, delving into diasporic perspectives and colonialism, with a focus on the effects of assimilation, both…

Rabindranath Tagore, known as the Bard of Bengal, was born in 1861 to an aristocratic family of social reformers in Calcutta (now Kolkata), then the seat of the British government in India. His prolific output spanned poetry, plays, songs, novels,…

Sarojini Naidu, famously known as ‘the Nightingale of India,’ was a remarkable female political activist and freedom fighter in pre-colonial India. Her poetic works are celebrated for their lyrical romanticism, capturing the beauty and diversity of Indian culture with sweetness…

Nissim Ezekiel, recognised as the father of Indian English poetry, was a foundational figure in introducing Modernism to the post-independence Indian literary scene. He captured the essence of everyday life through idiosyncratic descriptions of ordinary men and women. Through his…

Deborah Alma is a UK poet, editor and teacher. She has worked using poetry with people with dementia, in hospice care, with vulnerable women’s groups and with children in schools and lectured at both Worcester and Keele universities. From 2012…

Amarjit Chandan is a celebrated poet, essayist, and editor, known for his distinctive voice in contemporary Punjabi literature. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1946, Chandan’s upbringing was marked by both the richness of his Sikh heritage and the complexities of…

Arun Kolatkar was born in 1931 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. He grew up in a traditional patriarchal Hindu extended family, describing their crowded home as ‘a house of cards…the rooms had mudfloors which had to be plastered with cowdung every…

Vikram Seth is a poet and novelist whose contributions to literature are harboured in various eclectic and traditional forms. The sites of his poetry and prose are intercontinental, creating literary habitats of far away lands and cultures. In the modern…

Bhanu Kapil is a contemporary British Indian performance artist and poet. Born and raised in West London to Punjabi parents, Kapil recalls an early inclination toward poetry, composing her first verses as “poem(s) to the stars” as a young child….

Arundhati Subramaniam is a celebrated contemporary female poet. Born in Mumbai, 1973, she recalls, from a young age, wanting to ‘be around words – listen to them, utter them, play with them, and string them into patterns’.1.  After gaining her…

Sampurna Chattarji is a poet, writer, editor, translator, and teacher whose work propels through the boundaries of language and identity. With over 20 published works to her name, Chattarji has emerged as a prominent voice in contemporary Indian literature. Through…

Exposing overlooked corners of Mumbai and New York; highlighting perspectives from around the world; uncovering racial, political and religious truths, these are just a few of the main themes Jeet Thayil explores across his novels and poetry, connecting his readers…

Mona Arshi worked as a Human rights lawyer at Liberty before she started writing poetry. She worked on a number of high-profile legal cases including the Stephen Lawrence case, representing Janet Alder and Diane Pretty, she also represented women fleeing…

David Dabydeen (David Horace Clarence Harilal Sookram) was born in 1955, in Berbice, Guyana. His second name, Dabydeen, is taken from his mother, Veronica Dabydeen, who raised him, along with his maternal grandparents, after her divorce. Dabydeen regards his time…

Ismael Mansoor is a Deaf Poet, he was the British Deaf Association’s BSL Poet Laureate (2024-2025).