Mona Dash
Mona Dash writes fiction and poetry. She is the author of Untamed Heart (Tara India Research Press 2016) and UK two collections of poetry; Dawn-drops (Writer’s Workshop 2001) and A certain way (Skylark Publications UK, 2017). She has a Masters in Creative Writing (with distinction) from the London Metropolitan University. Mona was awarded a Poet of Excellence award by the Word Masala Foundation in the House of Lords in 2016. Her work has been published and anthologised. Mona has also participated in readings in prestigious venues and literary festivals in the UK.Her short story collection Let us look elsewhere was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2018. Her memoir, A Roll of The Dice: a story of love, loss and genetics is out now from Linen Press, UK She is a member of The Whole Kahani, a British South Asian Writers’ Collective. Mona leads a double life; apart from being a writer, she is also a Telecoms Engineer with a MBA and works full time in a global technology organisation.
Originally from India, she lives in London.
Originally from India, she lives in London.
Mini Interview (2019)
Your poetics?
I also write fiction; both in short form and full-length novel. I can now add that I have also written non-fiction since my memoir A roll of the dice: a story of loss, love, and genetics is due out on the 22nd April! But my writing started with poetry and as Baudelaire said, ‘even in prose, write poetry.’
The reason I mention this here is to explain that while poetry can be a medium to express prose, for me poetry stems from a completely personal source. While my fiction is influenced by the characters who come into my mind, and their issues, their stories, in my poetry, there is observation, expression, experience, but all that ties in to the personal in a stronger way than my fiction. I don’t mean to say that every poem of mine is autobiographical, but I mean the poem germinates from a very single source of thought or emotion inside me, it comes strongly, and then it needs to be chipped away and edited. While with fiction, I go outside of myself to explore a different view, in a poem, the journey is internal. In terms of themes, I find I go through phases, but usually my poems are about identity, feminism, loneliness, love… of course love! I find myself more experimental with the form these days, and that could be because the structure of modern poetry is changing a lot, so you get encouraged to experiment.
Your influences?
I am an engineer by education and then went on to study business administration. I work in the technology sector. Nothing poetic about any of it! So my poetic influences come from school and college days as part of English literature, and the poets I liked were the English romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Keats, Shelly, Browning and so on. As an adult when I read poetry for the sake of reading it, Elliot notably the Wasteland remains a favourite, also Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Pablo Neruda, Maya Angelou, to name some others. I like to read contemporary magazines, such gems sometimes. Then the diaspora and Maatwala poets! There are a lot of influences out there!
Why is the Maatwala fest and collective relevant and important?
In principle I like collectives, simply because they give us a platform for visibility, and also a network to engage in. I know there is a danger of also becoming labelled. For example, if we are diaspora poets, does it mean we can never be considered mainstream? Is this a tag for our poetry always, and if so, is this tag enough for us? I like to believe however that it is a necessary evil to live with, since the advantages of belonging to a collective are higher. What Maatwala is doing is really inspiring and amazing. The themes of inclusiveness and creativity is what is pinning this festival together. You have expanded geographically for example by including the UK poets this year. Just forgetting all the external visages of awards and prizes and publications, the Maatwala fest is a collaboration of poets to come together and that is why it is so relevant. I hope the spirit of poetry continues and this festival soars higher next year.
I also write fiction; both in short form and full-length novel. I can now add that I have also written non-fiction since my memoir A roll of the dice: a story of loss, love, and genetics is due out on the 22nd April! But my writing started with poetry and as Baudelaire said, ‘even in prose, write poetry.’
The reason I mention this here is to explain that while poetry can be a medium to express prose, for me poetry stems from a completely personal source. While my fiction is influenced by the characters who come into my mind, and their issues, their stories, in my poetry, there is observation, expression, experience, but all that ties in to the personal in a stronger way than my fiction. I don’t mean to say that every poem of mine is autobiographical, but I mean the poem germinates from a very single source of thought or emotion inside me, it comes strongly, and then it needs to be chipped away and edited. While with fiction, I go outside of myself to explore a different view, in a poem, the journey is internal. In terms of themes, I find I go through phases, but usually my poems are about identity, feminism, loneliness, love… of course love! I find myself more experimental with the form these days, and that could be because the structure of modern poetry is changing a lot, so you get encouraged to experiment.
Your influences?
I am an engineer by education and then went on to study business administration. I work in the technology sector. Nothing poetic about any of it! So my poetic influences come from school and college days as part of English literature, and the poets I liked were the English romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Keats, Shelly, Browning and so on. As an adult when I read poetry for the sake of reading it, Elliot notably the Wasteland remains a favourite, also Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Pablo Neruda, Maya Angelou, to name some others. I like to read contemporary magazines, such gems sometimes. Then the diaspora and Maatwala poets! There are a lot of influences out there!
Why is the Maatwala fest and collective relevant and important?
In principle I like collectives, simply because they give us a platform for visibility, and also a network to engage in. I know there is a danger of also becoming labelled. For example, if we are diaspora poets, does it mean we can never be considered mainstream? Is this a tag for our poetry always, and if so, is this tag enough for us? I like to believe however that it is a necessary evil to live with, since the advantages of belonging to a collective are higher. What Maatwala is doing is really inspiring and amazing. The themes of inclusiveness and creativity is what is pinning this festival together. You have expanded geographically for example by including the UK poets this year. Just forgetting all the external visages of awards and prizes and publications, the Maatwala fest is a collaboration of poets to come together and that is why it is so relevant. I hope the spirit of poetry continues and this festival soars higher next year.