As the pandemic shutdown looms over us, we are reminded of those things we took for granted: for instance, hibiscus flowers, the sea, the moon, or an elderly couple at home who are still in love. Hibiscus: poems that heal and empower seeks to convey the resonating touch of the flower itself. According to Ayurveda, the flower has many medicinal uses that include but are not limited to lowering blood pressure and preventing stroke. The anthology derives its healing power from reaching across continents. It was conceived in India by acclaimed poet, editor, and translator Kiriti Sengupta. Hibiscus houses 104 poets—luminaries like Keki N. Daruwalla, Mamang Dai, Sudeep Sen, Bina Sarkar Ellias, Sanjeev Sethi, Sanjukta Dasgupta, Wang Ping, Tim Kahl, John Grey, Michael R. Burch, Claudine Nash, Gerard Sarnat, among others. Chief editor Kiriti Sengupta writes of the concept behind the book: “As a clinician, I can tell you, healing is not all about back to normalcy, or in other words, restoration of the state of being. Healing imparts strength. It renders authority.” A distinct relationship exists between healing and empowerment that this anthology intends to convey. In the introduction written conjointly between the editors: Kiriti Sengupta, Anu Majumdar, and Dustin Pickering, the roles the collection declares for itself are made apparent. Majumdar writes, “Poetry is the first language of humanity,” and “how we heal all this,” the different levels of crisis, “is the justice that will empower the world.” Sengupta writes, “In times of crisis, one may approach the issue(s) in more than one way: we can demand remedial measures, or we can opt for a therapeutic course that will alleviate our suffering. We have every right to exercise both the means, however. Hibiscus: poems that heal and empower follows the second way of addressing hardship.” Pickering himself writes of the socio-economical devastation wreaked by the virus and implies that people return to their humanity. In taking a bold stance of caution, Pickering also shows us an alternative meaning to social distancing: minding one’s own business is paramount, and we should not infringe on others. However, the anthology is rife with questions about our humanity, how we treat one another, the forgotten beauty of life, and the wonders we are surrounded by and should be concerned with preserving. It is recorded that the lockdown has helped restore the environment. Hibiscus: poems that heal and empower in its ability to navigate steep terrain—the cultural and political forces we wish to command—while transcending our pettiness to show that empowerment is possible without pretense. The anthology elicits a promising journey during this time when poetry is having a bright moment.

Today, Indian writing in English is a fi eld of study that cannot be overlooked. Whereas at the turn of the 20th century, writers from India who chose to write in English were either unheeded or underrated, with time the literary world has been forced to recognize and accept their contribution to the corpus of world literatures in English. Showcasing the burgeoning field of Indian English writing, this encyclopedia documents the poets, novelists, essayists, and dramatists of Indian origin since the pre-independence era and their dedicated works. Written by internationally recognized scholars, this comprehensive reference book explores the history and development of Indian writers, their major contributions, and the critical reception accorded to them. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Indian Writing in English will be a valuable resource to students, teachers, and academics navigating the vast area of contemporary world literature.

Jeet Thayil has compiled the definitive anthology of Indian poetry in English. This monumental undertaking, two decades in the making, brings together writers from across the world, a wealth of voices--in dialogue, in soliloquy, in rhetoric, and in play--to present an expansive, encompassing idea of what makes an 'Indian' poet. Included are lost, uncollected, or out of print poems by major poets, essays that place entire bodies of work into their precise cultural contexts, and a collection of classic black and white portraits by Madhu Kapparath. These images, taken over a period of thirty years, form an archive of breathtaking historical scope. They offer the viewer unparalleled intimacy and access to the lives of some of India's greatest poets.

About the Book A SENSITIVE AND EYE-OPENING ACCOUNT OF THE LIVES OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND THOSE AROUND THEM ‘I am the mother of a child who did not fit the school system, a child who was disabled by it. She was a child who made “errors”, “mistakes” that the school system was unforgiving of. We were told by the principal of an alternative school that they could not possibly admit “this kind of child”. My daughter went from being a child to “this kind of child” in that one moment.’ When she started working on the book, it was Srilata’s daughter who was its protagonist. But soon, she realised that there was no way she could stop with her daughter’s story. With each step ahead (or back), she became acutely aware of the larger story of the things we frame as ‘disability’. ‘I have learnt that disability is profoundly political, that it is heartbreakingly social.’ In This Kind of Child Srilata brings together first-person accounts, interviews and short fiction which open up for us the experiential worlds of persons with disabilities and those who love them. The book offers a multi-perspectival understanding of the disability experience its emotional as well as imagined truth, both to the disabled themselves as well as to those closely associated with them. '1 have learnt that stories are always bigger than they seem at first—bigger, wider and deeper.' At the heart of this book is inter-being and the question: What does it mean to love and accept yourself or someone else fully?

As blockbusters employ ever greater numbers of dazzling visual effects and digital illusions, this book explores the material roots and stylistic practices of special effects and their makers. Gathering leading voices in cinema and new media studies, this comprehensive anthology moves beyond questions of spectacle to examine special effects from the earliest years of cinema, via experimental film and the Golden Age of Hollywood, to our contemporary transmedia landscape. Wide-ranging and accessible, this book illuminates and interrogates the vast array of techniques film has used throughout its history to conjure spectacular images, mediate bodies, map worlds and make meanings. Foreword by Scott Bukatman, with an Afterword by Lev Manovich.

Original Scholarly Monograph