Mohan Rana’s intricate metaphysical poems are subtle, like water they define through transparency. His poems undertake the deceptively simple process of understanding things as they are, in their ordinary brilliance. This selection of profound, contemplative verse – so often concerned with memory and time – is an excellent introduction to one of Hindi poetry’s most enthralling voices.
“What gives Rana’s poetry its magnetic quality is that, despite its philosophical profundity, his work is vividly accessible.” – Lucy Rosenstein
The Cartographer is a new publication from the Poetry Translation Centre’s World Poets Series that contains new translations of Mohan Rana’s poetry made by Lucy Rosenstein with the UK poet Bernard O’Donoghue, along with existing poems from 2011’s chapbook Poems produced by the trio for PTC.
Join us online for dual language readings from this new book with readings along with a discussion of the themes explored and the translation process with Mohan Rana and Bernard O’Donoghue. The event will be hosted by Gale Burns.
This event will take place on Zoom. Book a free ticket to reserve your space, following which you will be sent a joining code.
Mohan Rana is a Hindi poet who grew up and studied in Delhi but now lives in Bath, England. His poetry explores the topics of identity, truth, memory and nature. He has published eight poetry collections, and with each book his reputation as a diaspora poet has grown. His latest collections are Shesh Anek (Much Remains), published in India by Copper Coin Publisher in 2016 and the trilingual e-book Nekje Daleč Sem Uzrl Zvezde (I saw the stars far off) published by Beletrina in 2020 in Slovenia. His poetry has been translated into several Indian and European languages.
Bernard O’Donoghue (pictured below) was born in Cullen, Co Cork in 1945. He is an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, where he taught Medieval English and Modern Irish Poetry. He has published six collections of poetry, including Gunpowder (Faber; 1995), winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, and, most recently, The Seasons of Cullen Church (Faber; 2016).
Gale Burns was awarded a prize at the Serbian Indjija International Poetry Festival in 2017 and has been a writer in residence at Kingston University and a Hawthornden Fellow. He convenes the Shuffle Poetry Series at the Poetry Café in London and was recently the vice-president of the European Association of Creative Writing Programmes. He teaches at several institutions and has three pamphlets and a collection, Mute House, which is published by Eyewear.
