Yogesh Patel When I discovered David Rushmer’s uncluttered poetry with distilled expressions in the mould of neo-impressionism in Remains to Be Seen published by Shearsman Books, I was thrilled but wondered if such European style of abstract poetry would be appreciated at all in England. Chhāyāvād in Hindi is akin to…
Author: Yogesh Patel
'While Ars Notoria has a declared political position, as one of the editors here I am not limited to it, but hold wider views. Poetry is democratic. Though my work is known for promoting diaspora poets, through this platform, I want to epitomise everything poetry, creating a space that is not black and white!'
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Yogesh Patel received an MBE for literature in the Queen’s New Year Honours list 2020. Honoured also with the Freedom of the City of London, he edits eSkylark, runs Skylark Publications UK and a non-profit Word Masala project to promote SA diaspora literature. In 2020, Edxecel adopted his recent eAntholgy of Diaspora poets for the National Curriculum. Yogesh founded the literary charity, Gujarati Literary Academy. With LP records, films, radio, children’s book, fiction and non-fiction books, and three poetry collections to his credit, in 2017, he was presented to The Queen at Buckingham Palace. A recipient of many awards, including an honour in April 2019 at the New York University as a Poet-of-Honor, he has read in the House of Lords and at the National Poetry Library as well as at many prestigious venues around the world. His last collection of poems, Swimming with Whales, was published in 2017.
His writing has appeared in PN Review, The London Magazine, Shearsman, Asia Literary Review, Under the Radar, IOTA, Envoi, Understanding, Orbis, on BBC TV and Radio, and more. He is also anthologised in MacMillan, Redbeck and other anthologies. By profession, Yogesh is a qualified optometrist and an accountant. Author’s Websites: www.patelyogesh.co.uk and www.skylarkpublications.co.uk
Hugo Williams
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Poet of Honour: Hugo Williams
Hugo Williams is hardly wordy in expressing himself, and as in his extensive output of poetry, he is a soft poet who has been spot on with his clarity of expression, a demand that he has constantly subjected himself of in his poems.
Ahren Warner
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Poetry Books of the Year 2021
All these extraordinary books will make a good read and a memorable present. It is also an honour for the poets chosen.
Christopher Reid
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Poet of Honour: Ruth Padel
Ruth is one of seventy-two great-great-grandchildren of Charles Darwin. Ruth Padel has won the first prize in one of our most coveted awards, the National Poetry Competition. The quality of her work has remained timeless with much enviable consistency. All great poets have a deep sense of music and how words assemble in line with that sate of mind. But Ruth’s understanding of it goes deeper. She grew up playing chamber music and singing, and took raga lessons. Singing and playing music of all kinds, especially classical and world music, informs her work deeply.
Christopher Reid
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Poet of Honour: Christopher Reid
In Christopher Reid’s many poems the words invoke a real airy, sensual presence of images. In your transference to the ambience, you are presented with smell, taste and the sensation of touch.
Poem
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On The Rocks
A poem by Yogesh Patel
with a warning: Drink responsibly
Courage is an eternal, euphoric spirit./ And only the spirit makes me/
speak aloud. And the trying/ freedom always needs it.
Mona Arshi
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Poet of Honour: Mona Arshi
As defined by the Forward Prize winner poet Mona Arshi, a ‘rupture of empathy’ is amplified around us. As a human rights lawyer, she often observes it at a touching distance; yet keeps nurturing life, but in the end, the lilies have to be sadly left to be ‘beauty-drained’.
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Keki Daruwalla
The recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1984) and the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (1987) for Asia, Daruwalla is at his best with his poems engaging with nature.
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Raymond Antrobus
The Year 2019 can be emphatically coined as the Raymond Antrobus year! Deaf at birth and not diagnosed until he was seven, as Antrobus says, his poems are an ‘investigation of missing sounds’. Not to forget that he also investigates meaning; after all, how can any poem ignore that leap! He has emerged as one of our most revered contemporary poets.
Peter Cowlam
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Poems of the Month: Peter Cowlam
The landscape of social media is a noisy place! Sometimes the poets who shout little about their work are often difficult to discover! Hence, at Ars Notoria, the team has no hesitation in celebrating Peter Cowlam’s poem.
Ian Duhig
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Poet of Honour: Ian Duhig
This month, Ian Duhig gives us a rare treat with his unique brand of poetry. Where Wendy Cope can be light-hearted, Ian is far more word-mischievous poet. From his palette comes a great mixture of intellect and humour that is highly inventive, eccentric and witty.
Moniza Alvi
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Poet of Honour: Moniza Alvi
This month, Moniza Alvi brings us such a shattering reality and leaves us asking to redefine the use of the word animal.
A key to notice is her craft very precise and incisive with each word weighing in with its presence. Just look at the poem Candle. With candle, caves, stalagmites and stalactites, does it need to say more?
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Sinéad Morrissey
Sinéad Morrissey, is one of our most revered poets. There is a valid reason behind it. Even as I write this, she has been shortlisted for the 2021 Pigott Poetry Prize. You can see in her biog the list of many awards her work enjoys. Having taken a journey through various cultures, I suppose it comes naturally to her not only to capture a sweeping range of images, sculptures, monuments, and paintings, but to be touched by political, cultural and geographical aspects as well. -Yogesh Patel
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Martina Evans
Shortlisted for the 2019 Irish Times Poetry Now Award, the Pigott Poetry Prize and the Roehampton Poetry Prize, Now We Can Talk Openly About Men is Martina Evan’s latest collection of poems. Almost a hundred years later, in an exceptional flip side of the fight recounted, the poet makes us relive the period of the men stifled by the Irish Conflict around 1919. I am thrilled that through her other poems selected here we can celebrate Martina Evans as our Poet of Honour. -Yogesh Patel
Politics
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Poems From the Heart: Sonnet Mondal
Ever since I stumbled on Sonnet Mondal’s poems, I have been captivated by their stunning simplicity and words evoking a magical experience. That he achieves this consistently is breath-taking.
In this occasional series, our aim is to connect you with some of these exceptional beauties I come across. These are rare, as they don’t need any awards.
YP
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Tishani Doshi
Meet Tishani in a place between her playful disposition and our exigent reality. She puts god in the middle of our chaos, our storming contradictions, our cosmos. As a rare treat, here are three poems from her collection: ‘A God at the Door’ Tishani Doshi is a tempest of talents.
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Cyril Dabydeen
Guyanese with Indian ancestry, and ever since winning Sandbach Parker Gold Medal in his twenties, in 1964, Cyril has won critical acclaims and awards, including becoming the Poet Laureate of Ottawa, between 1984 and 1987. Few poets succeed as novelists as well. Recognised with the country’s most coveted awards, the Guyana Prize for Fiction, Cyril has proven he is also a great novelist.
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Vidyan Ravinthiran
One of the most esteemed literary critics, but a poet at heart, Vidyan has reached one of the most coveted seats in literature as an Associate Professor of English Literature at Harvard. This achievement is more remarkable because Harvard had been notoriously accused of consistently rating Asian-American applicants lower.
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Imtiaz Dharker
Poet of Honour is a series of Ars Notoria and Word Masala Foundation’s celebration of some of the best contemporary poets who have become iconic and a major inspiration. l am profoundly grateful that Imtiaz not only agreed to be a special guest for us to celebrate Christmas but also share as a special treat for you her trademark artistic expression in sketches.
Merry Christmas!
Poet-of-Honour
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Poet of Honour: Pascale Petit
Poet of Honour is a series of Ars Notoria and Word Masala Foundation’s celebration of some of the best contemporary poets who have become iconic and a major inspiration. This month we are thrilled to present Pascale Petit, who just won this year’s £5,000 inaugural Laurel Prize for ecopoetry with Mama Amazonica (Bloodaxe Books).
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