The
Other Voices International Project
Publication Announcements
A Leaf in His Ear: Selected Poems by Mahadai Das
When Mahadai Das died at the tragically early age of 49, there was an outpouring of grief across the Caribbean world that a poet who never quite had the chance to build a literary career to match her talents had been lost. She had for somne time been recognised as an outstanding Guyanese poet, but when Peepal Tree published her Bones in 1988, there was widespread critical recognition that here was an outstandingly original new voice. Then severe illness struck and though there followed occasional poems that developed the achievement of Bones, there was no new collection. This selected poems, discussed with Mahadai Das before her death, now organised in co-operation with the poet’s sister, brings together all the poems we feel Mahadai Das would have wished to see republished. The selection includes the whole of Bones and a number of poems written in the period when Mahadai Das was living in the USA. These poems explore more personal themes and in particular write with dazzling bravura on the themes of illness and death. In addition, A Leaf in His Ear brings together many of the fine poems published in journals and those previously uncollected, from lively, humorous nation language poems to the oblique, highly original poems written in the years after Bones.
Seven Valleys of Love , Translated by Sheem Kalbasi
Seven Valleys of Love, compiled and translated by Sheema Kalbasi, is written with a piercing clarity and a profound intensity of emotion. Her ability to preserve the integrity and poetical sensibility of the work is evident in her mastery of language, editing, and translation. Seven Valleys of Love is a vibrant celebration of extraordinary women’s voices. The colorful and lively verses in this dazzling collection emerge as small, quiet explosions out of the shadows of hopelessness and seek to inspire and restore peace, hope, and harmony in its people. Seven Valleys of Love calls us to appreciate that though adversity and pity pertain to every human heart, the presence of loveliness and forgiveness also exists in the invincible human spirit. A superb book that demands to be held or cupped gently in the hand so not to spill the sumptuous beauty, light wit, and sharp-eyed acuity it is teeming with. Sheema Kalbasi elegantly captures the relationship between the troubled voices lamenting to the inner self and the enlightened voices delivering touching bursts of insight and joy. This stunning anthology of love and loss bears witness to a passionate and sorrowful longing, a deep plaintiveness for the ageless plight of expression. A pining that lurks like the wind, at times turbulent and smothering and in other moments soothingly obliging, as unexpected and stealthy as the warm breath or whisper of a lover or assailant on the neck, “panting at the night”, capable of really anything. - Desi Di Nardo
Award winning poet Sheema Kalbasi's first book of poems in English,
Echoes in Exile is now available and may be purchased from Amazon:
Sheema Kalbasi’s poems speak of love, loss,
and life in exile. They are the poems of a human rights activist passionate
with the hope of peace. Kalbasi’s poetry exposes the deep heart
of a woman who is compassionate with suffering and full of the joy
of life, of the innocence of a child, the knowledge of a woman, the
aspirations of a peacemaker. These are stirring poems with a worldly
view, both accessible and imaginative. They make an excellent cross-cultural
exchange that demonstrates our universal humanity.
- Daniela Gioseffi, American book award winning author of WOMEN ON
WAR: INTERNATIONAL WRITINGS.
Visit the Echoes in Exile Website for more information: http://www.echoesinexile.com.
Cyclamens And Swords And Other Poems About The Land Of Israel by Helen Bar-Lev & Johnmichael Simon
The achingly beautiful cover of timeless trees, earth, flowers and rock, is redolent of Israel’s destiny. This little land, so hallowed in human history, seems the literary and spiritual core of existence to most of humanity. If strife is ever present here, how can there ever be the peace of ancient promise? This land seems to symbolize the eternal quest for harmony where forces of turmoil march ceaselessly. Bar-Lev and Simon explore this theme for us. Cyclamens and Swords will become a treasured classic, echoing as it does so fluently, the longing, fearing and questing that marks these troubled times. Helen Bar-Lev’s poem Beauty sums up the reader’s feelings as we reluctantly finish this special book: “and I,/the ingrate,/ ever insatiable,/implore you,/please,/ show/ me/more.” Katherine L. Gordon Author, Editor, Publisher, Judge and Reviewer, Resident Columnist for Ancient Heart Magazine.
Available at http://www.lulu.com/content/641799
Harvest International is an annual arts and literature magazine produced by the English and Foreign Languages Department at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The goal of the publication is to create a true literary circle of international writers and artists of all ages.
The 2006 issue was released on November 30, 2006. The English Department is now taking orders for $26.00 US. To order please contact Jennifer Maldonado at jnmaldonado.harvest@gmail.com or Professor Barbara Gill-Mayberry at bigillmayberry@yahoo.com.
This year's issue includes the Other Voices poets: An'ya, Mike Austin, Unomah N. Azuah, Francisco Azuela, Helen Bar-Lev, Kimberly Blaeser, Pat Boran, Mahmoud Darwish, Leila Farjami, Humberto Garza, Maria Haeri, Nathalie Handal, Negar-Hasn Zedah, Alamgir Hashmi, Roger Humes, Sheema Kalbasi, Christopher Kelen, Chungmi Kim, Luis A. Lopez, Tiffany Midge, Vernon Joseph Montoya, MariJo Moore, Ike Muila, Siphiwe Ka Ngwenya, -jm, Mario Petrucci, Janet Marie Rogers, Dee Rimbaud, Renée Sigel, Johhmichael Simon, Teresia Teaiwa, Heng Siok Tian, Tenzin Tsundue, Zdravka Vladova-Momcheva and the 441 Grammar School of St. Petersburg, Russia, and more.
Prizes
won by Other Voices Poets:
International
Poetry Prize - Sheema Kalbasi
Steven Wylie Poetry Prize - Vernon Montoya
Spanish Poetry Prize - Francisco Azuela