Nandana Dev Sen reads out and discusses the themes from 'Acrobat,' an English translation of her mother, Nabaneeta Dev Sen's widely celebrated Bengali poetry.
About the Book:
A radiant collection of poetry about womanhood, intimacy, and the body politic that together evokes the arc of an ordinary life. Nabaneeta Dev Sen's rhythmic lines explore the joys and agonies of first love, childbirth, and decay with a restless, tactile imagination, both picking apart and celebrating the rituals that make us human. When she warns, "know that blood can be easily shed by lips," her words tune to the fierce and biting depths of language, to the "treachery that lingers on tongue tips." At once compassionate and unsparing, conversational and symphonic, these poems tell of a rope shivering beneath an acrobat's nimble feet or of a twisted, blood-soaked umbilical cord – they pluck the invisible threads that bind us together.
About the Author & Translator:
Nabaneeta Dev Sen was an Indian novelist, academic, children’s author, and poet. She taught at various universities, such as Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Jadavpur. She started her writing career with poems but later experimented with prose. Some of her notable works are Ami Anupam, Pratham Pratyay, Truck Bahoney Mac Mahoney, and Sita Theke Suru. Her works encompassed novels, poems, children’s books, travelogues, feminist writings, literary criticism, and essays. Though she predominantly wrote in Bengali, she was well-versed in several languages, such as French, German, and Hebrew. She received many awards, including the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Nandana Dev Sen is an award-winning actor, writer, and child-rights activist. Nandana grew up in India, England, and America, and has acted in over 20 feature films from all three continents (and in multiple languages). She is the Ambassador for Child Protection for Save the Children India. Nandana is the author of six children's books. She frequently writes for newspapers and journals, and has edited and co-authored a bilingual book of her translations of her mother Nabaneeta Dev Sen's Bengali poetry, Make Up Your Mind.
This series is hosted by Yoshita Srivastava, literature collective associate at Belongg. She believes inclusive representation is essential for a better future — empathy being key in dismantling prejudice. She is interested in exploring intersections of gender, sexuality, identity and culture studies, and has previously worked at media and social sector organizations.