Anita Nahal
Anita Nahal, Ph.D., is a two-time (2022, 23) Pushcart Prize-nominated Indian American academic and author. Anita has one novel, four poetry collections, one of flash fiction, four for children, and five edited anthologies published. Her third poetry collection, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021) was nominated by Cyril Dabydeen as the best poetry book, 2021 for British Ars Notoria, and is mandatory reading at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Her prose-poetry genre collaborative novel, drenched thoughts is also prescribed in the same course and university. In 2023 she was a finalist for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for her third ekphrastic poetry book, Kisses at the espresso bar (Kelsay, 2022). And in 2024, she was awarded the Nissim Prize for Excellence in Fiction for her novel, drenched thoughts.
Anita’s poems have appeared in numerous journals in the US, UK, Asia, and Australia and anthologized in many collections, including The Polaris Trilogy, slated to be sent to the moon in the Space X launch. Her poems are also housed at Stanford University’s Digital Humanities Initiative. Nahal’s poetry is part of a 2023 anthology released by India’s National Academy of Letters, the Sahitya Akademi, Mapping the Mind, Mapping the Map- Twenty Contemporary Indian English Poets. One of her poems, “Hold on baby, we'll soon be home,” was included as part of a video produced by Doordarshan TV, Kolkata, India.
Recently Anita ventured into short filmmaking on her poems, and her first short, “Clubs my sinful dance muse,” was awarded the Best Super Short Film Award by the Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela (August 2024). It was also screened at the Alibag and Goa Short Film Festivals in India in 2024.
Anita is the secretary of the Montgomery Chapter, Maryland Writers Association, and former editor of the newsletter, Poetry Society of Virginia. She is also an active member of the Northern Virginia Writers Club and the Poetry Society of Virginia. Anita is the daughter of Sahitya Akademi award-winning Indian novelist and professor, Late Dr. Chaman Nahal, and educationist Late Dr. Sudarshna Nahal. She teaches at a university in Washington D.C. www.anitanahal.com
Anita’s poems have appeared in numerous journals in the US, UK, Asia, and Australia and anthologized in many collections, including The Polaris Trilogy, slated to be sent to the moon in the Space X launch. Her poems are also housed at Stanford University’s Digital Humanities Initiative. Nahal’s poetry is part of a 2023 anthology released by India’s National Academy of Letters, the Sahitya Akademi, Mapping the Mind, Mapping the Map- Twenty Contemporary Indian English Poets. One of her poems, “Hold on baby, we'll soon be home,” was included as part of a video produced by Doordarshan TV, Kolkata, India.
Recently Anita ventured into short filmmaking on her poems, and her first short, “Clubs my sinful dance muse,” was awarded the Best Super Short Film Award by the Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela (August 2024). It was also screened at the Alibag and Goa Short Film Festivals in India in 2024.
Anita is the secretary of the Montgomery Chapter, Maryland Writers Association, and former editor of the newsletter, Poetry Society of Virginia. She is also an active member of the Northern Virginia Writers Club and the Poetry Society of Virginia. Anita is the daughter of Sahitya Akademi award-winning Indian novelist and professor, Late Dr. Chaman Nahal, and educationist Late Dr. Sudarshna Nahal. She teaches at a university in Washington D.C. www.anitanahal.com
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There’s nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. That’s your fear labelling us. We are the Kali women. And all other female, male, androgynous gods. We don’t distinguish. We seek. We learn. Comprehend. Embrace. We are the Kali women. In the forefront, striding and yes, strutting our stuff too. Some men gulp and gawk. Making a tight knot of patriarchy right in front of their balls. They are the same who have been bowing before Kali’s statues for centuries. Marking their foreheads with mitti from her robes. And then some in their sinister voice sing well into the murky night, Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Don’t think she’s not watching.
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There’s nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. That’s your fear labelling us. We are the Kali women. And all other female, male, androgynous gods. Always in front, straddling between pathways, poles, blocks, and behavior. Between screams and footsteps pinning for justice denied. Justice battered. Justice flagged. Murdered. Burned. Their dark skin, their gender, religion, their sandals blood stained, their clothes drenched and smelling of your foul breath, with your hands striking, your feet jutting and hitting. And then some in their sinister voice sing well into the murky night, Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Don’t think she’s not watching.
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There’s nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. That’s your fear labelling us. We are the Kali women. My skin is kali, my heart is gold, my soul is a child, cries, laughs, jumps, feelings flow like fresh churned cream from cow’s milk. My skin disgusts you. Yet you try to tan yours. My skin disturbs you, yet you find it exotic. My skin you call gandi. But I am clean. I bathe. In winters when my skin lightens a bit, you proclaim, I’m looking saaf, fair. I was always clean. It’s your mind that is dirty. Even mock bathing in river Ganga might skim above your falseness. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Ma Kali. Don’t think she’s not watching.
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*Mitti: Dirt/Earth *Kali: Of Black color and also Goddess of destroyer of evil
*Ma: Mother *Gandi: Dirty *Saaf: Clean, also, a colloquial word to imply fair skinned *Ganga: Considered to be one of the holiest rivers in India
Previously published in the author’s third prose poetry book, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021)
*Ma: Mother *Gandi: Dirty *Saaf: Clean, also, a colloquial word to imply fair skinned *Ganga: Considered to be one of the holiest rivers in India
Previously published in the author’s third prose poetry book, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021)
Poems
https://femasiamagazine.com/tears/ (Tears can come anytime)
https://www.journalofexpressivewriting.com/post/ask-me-your-fortune-if-you-dare (Ask me your fortune, if you dare)
https://www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/post/of-in-law-daughters-and-mothers-prayer-humdrum-of-my-fabric (Of in-law daughters and mothers & Prayer; Humdrum of my fabric)
https://femasiamagazine.com/tears/ (Tears can come anytime)
https://www.journalofexpressivewriting.com/post/ask-me-your-fortune-if-you-dare (Ask me your fortune, if you dare)
https://www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/post/of-in-law-daughters-and-mothers-prayer-humdrum-of-my-fabric (Of in-law daughters and mothers & Prayer; Humdrum of my fabric)
Interviews
https://www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/post/of-in-law-daughters-and-mothers-prayer-humdrum-of-my-fabric (please scroll down the page)
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2023/sunday-edition/the-printed-world--wording-the-picture.html (review of, Kisses at the espresso bar, Daily Pioneer, India by Swati Pal)
https://www.thestatesman.com/books-education/book-review-call-justice-anita-nahals-words-images-like-magnet-1503020096.html *Review of, What’s wring with us Kali women? by Malashri Lal, The Statesman)
https://www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/post/of-in-law-daughters-and-mothers-prayer-humdrum-of-my-fabric (please scroll down the page)
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2023/sunday-edition/the-printed-world--wording-the-picture.html (review of, Kisses at the espresso bar, Daily Pioneer, India by Swati Pal)
https://www.thestatesman.com/books-education/book-review-call-justice-anita-nahals-words-images-like-magnet-1503020096.html *Review of, What’s wring with us Kali women? by Malashri Lal, The Statesman)
Other Links
Best poetry book for 2021, British Ars Notoria (please scroll down the page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-n-arya-86279a19/overlay/1736859229447/single-media-viewer/?profileId=ACoAAAPahUoBMJ1_eSbT7C2X6nSJuRoVEmoREvQ
Citation for Kisses at the espresso bar (Kelsay, 2022) which was. Afinalist for the Rabindranathj Tagpre literary prize: https://tagoreprize.com/shortlist/
Best super short film prize for a fil on one of my poems:
At the Five Festivals International Film Festival (FICCO), Venezuela, September 2024. This short film is based on a poem of mine that first appeared in my book, "What's wrong with us Kali women?" (Kelsay Publishers, 2021). Made on cell phones, this is a very organic, home-based production, a barely 3-minute-and-30-second film that tells the story of bias based on age and expected gender norms, especially for older South Asian women. Kudos to my team! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJN2d1nWhQ
Best poetry book for 2021, British Ars Notoria (please scroll down the page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-n-arya-86279a19/overlay/1736859229447/single-media-viewer/?profileId=ACoAAAPahUoBMJ1_eSbT7C2X6nSJuRoVEmoREvQ
Citation for Kisses at the espresso bar (Kelsay, 2022) which was. Afinalist for the Rabindranathj Tagpre literary prize: https://tagoreprize.com/shortlist/
Best super short film prize for a fil on one of my poems:
At the Five Festivals International Film Festival (FICCO), Venezuela, September 2024. This short film is based on a poem of mine that first appeared in my book, "What's wrong with us Kali women?" (Kelsay Publishers, 2021). Made on cell phones, this is a very organic, home-based production, a barely 3-minute-and-30-second film that tells the story of bias based on age and expected gender norms, especially for older South Asian women. Kudos to my team! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJN2d1nWhQ
Numerous reviews, poems, details of books are available on my website at: www.anitanahal.co