The much-awaited new poetry anthology 100 Great Indian Poems is finally published (by Bloomsbury) and ready for orders. The poems were selected from the Indian poetry written over 3000 years in 27 languages. From Punjabi, my poem “Kalli” is included along with Surjit Patar’s “My Poem”. A poem by Amrita Pritam, could not be included because of copyright issues. Another poet of Punjabi origin, Gulzar, is also included though he doesn’t write in Punjabi. The anthology is in English and includes selections from the Vedas and the Upanishads and several other classics. The 100 poets include Kalidasa, Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Rabindranath Tagore, Kabir, Amir Khusrau, Mirabai, Jayanta Mahapatra, Kunwar Narain, Dilip Chitre, Mangalesh Dabral, Keki Daruwalla, K. Satchidanandan, Namdeo Dhasal and other modern poets including Abhay k. who is also the editor of the anthology -salute to Abhay’s monumental undertaking. The anthology is already on the best-seller list of www.amazon.in. It’s not yet available outside India.

A beautiful painting depicting Bhootwara -by Gurpreet Singh, 2017

Canada’s founder of Punjabi theatre

September 11th, 2017

Punjabi-born Ajmer Rode is a founding member of several Indo-Canadian literary and performing arts associations. He has written, directed and acted in plays of Punjabi theatre, and has published books in India and Canada, in Punjabi and English.  He is regarded as the founder of Punjabi theatre in Canada. He has also attracted attention in the U.S. with his poem Stroll in a Particle, which is one of the eight international poems inscribed on a public wall outside the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation building in Seattle. His collection of poetry, Poems at My Doorstep originally published in 1990 has been re-issued by Ekstasis this year. $23.95 ISBN 978-1-77171-233-0