How often would you meet a poet who stays in a town steeped in the calm of spirituality but whose shoreline is sprayed with the spume of a restless sea? Well, Gayatri stays in Pondicherry, an absolute favorite place of mine. And I have been wanting to speak to her for ever and more!
And when we finally did get to it, the conversation just flowed. For an hour we spoke of cities, books, poets, Sri Aurobindo, Agha Shahid Ali, Auroville - and pretty much everything in-between.
Her latest book 'A Warm Place with No Memory', published by Red River is a veritable journey of possibilities. Her poetry remembers not by holding on, but by allowing things to pass through; she chisels the abstract into form, making the ineffable quietly useful in the rhythms of ordinary life. She finds poetry in the practical.
As editor, publisher and founder of critically acclaimed Indian literary journal, The Brown Critique, for over two decades, Gayatri has published hundreds of established and emerging poets from India and other countries. She began her career as a journalist in Press Trust of India and The Independent (India) in Mumbai. Her career also encompasses leadership in the publishing industry and work in NGOs.
Gayatri’s books include A Song for Bela (a novel); poetry collections Shout, I Know You are Here, The Dream Pod; non-fiction The lotus of the heart, and Brown Critique Home anthology.
Her poems and prose have been published in major journals and anthologies. She is currently working on her next non-fiction title.
As co-founder of ‘Pondicherry Poets’, Gayatri has been curating the annual Pondicherry/Auroville Poetry Festival. ‘The Brown Critique-Gayatri Majumdar' YouTube channel features poets and musicians regularly. While Brown Critique Books has published a handful of mostly non-fiction titles over the past few years.
Gayatri is associated with Sri Aurobindo Society, specifically handling the publication of books, eBooks and audiobooks through AuroPublications.
Catch her reflect and recite in this second episode of the second season of 'Uncut Poetry presents Red River Sessions'.
In Red River Sessions, we talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books and Uncut Poetry, a much-loved poetry podcast.
Buy Gayatri's books and those of other fabulous poets at redriverpress.in.