Parsi Professor Emerita, writer and scholar, Dr. Feroza Jussawalla of the University of New Mexico, has co-edited with her scholar colleague, Dr. Lopa Basu, of the University of Wisconsin, a collection of poems on South Asian Women’s traumas.

The book has an excellent scholarly introduction to the development of Indian women’s poetry in English all over the now divided subcontinent.

This introduction surveys the beginnings of Indian English poetry from colonial times and develops all the way up to contemporary diaspora writing, as well as contemporary issues on the subcontinent such as those of violence against women, particularly when it is politically motivated.

Women speak about the politics of partition from Pakistan to Bangladesh to now current affairs concerning Kashmir. Among the many poets included are five Zoroastrian women, including the founder of the ASHA Centre and feminist trailblazer, Zerbanoo Gifford, whose poignant poem relates the trauma of losing her Godmother, along with Rashna Wadia, who writes a moving Haibun on being taken for Navajo Indian. Shehernaz Wadia, and Dellnaz Italia, poems add to an anthology that brings women’s literature to a new audience.

This inclusive anthology is well worth reading and including in your library as it tells of the stories of sufferings of so many women under so many varied circumstances, with such touching honesty. 

It is available to buy at Amazon – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F9XCBCSZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title