Zilka Joseph
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2024- Present
Zilka Joseph was born in Mumbai, lived in Kolkata, and now lives in Michigan. Her work is influenced by Indian and Western cultures, and her Bene Israel roots. Her work has appeared in journals such as Poetry, Kenyon Review Online, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poetry Daily, Asian Literary Review, The Bombay Literary Magazine, as well as several in US, UK, Indian, and international anthologies, and she has presented her work at the Indian American Arts Council (IAAC) Literary Festival in New York, the Asian Pacific Writers and Translators festivals, the Bangalore Literary Festival, Kala Ghoda Arts and Literary Festival, Mumbai, and the Samanvya Arts and Cultural Festival at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. She has been nominated for the PEN America, Pushcart, the American Book Award and the Griffith awards, to name a few, and has been interviewed on NPR/Michigan Radio, and podcasts such as Rattlecast, Rivkush, and Culturico. Her chapbook Sparrows and Dust won a Notable Best Indie Book Award and was Notable Asian American Poetry Book. Her books Sharp Blue Search of Flame and In Our Beautiful Bones were Foreword INDIES prize finalists. The University of Michigan awarded her a Zell Fellowship, the Michael Gutterman prize, and the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship. Sweet Malida: Memories of a Bene Israel Woman, her newest collection of poems and prose was published in the US in February, 2024 by Mayapple Press, New York, and an international edition has just been published in 2025 in India by Pippa Rann Books, distributed by Penguin Random House India. Currently, she is a creative writing coach, a manuscript advisor, and a mentor to writers in her community. www.zilkajoseph.com
Zilka Joseph was born in Mumbai, lived in Kolkata, and now lives in Michigan. Her work is influenced by Indian and Western cultures, and her Bene Israel roots. Her work has appeared in journals such as Poetry, Kenyon Review Online, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poetry Daily, Asian Literary Review, The Bombay Literary Magazine, as well as several in US, UK, Indian, and international anthologies, and she has presented her work at the Indian American Arts Council (IAAC) Literary Festival in New York, the Asian Pacific Writers and Translators festivals, the Bangalore Literary Festival, Kala Ghoda Arts and Literary Festival, Mumbai, and the Samanvya Arts and Cultural Festival at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. She has been nominated for the PEN America, Pushcart, the American Book Award and the Griffith awards, to name a few, and has been interviewed on NPR/Michigan Radio, and podcasts such as Rattlecast, Rivkush, and Culturico. Her chapbook Sparrows and Dust won a Notable Best Indie Book Award and was Notable Asian American Poetry Book. Her books Sharp Blue Search of Flame and In Our Beautiful Bones were Foreword INDIES prize finalists. The University of Michigan awarded her a Zell Fellowship, the Michael Gutterman prize, and the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship. Sweet Malida: Memories of a Bene Israel Woman, her newest collection of poems and prose was published in the US in February, 2024 by Mayapple Press, New York, and an international edition has just been published in 2025 in India by Pippa Rann Books, distributed by Penguin Random House India. Currently, she is a creative writing coach, a manuscript advisor, and a mentor to writers in her community. www.zilkajoseph.com
Bird in a Blizzard
this is when you know
you should have stayed home
this is when you know this is
not your element
when you know
you have been blown way off course
that water changes its face every day
and the faces you love blur
in that churning
that the whispers in the thick flood of flakes
come from elsewhere
that the ones who gave you shelter
are gone
that the cracking of the spine of the frozen river
will be the last sound you will hear
the thump thump thump you hear in your head
is someone trapped inside your heart
yes this is when you know
your ancestors are wanderers
singing tunes you never knew you knew
you remember
every word of the song
that the wind rips apart and flings
but how quickly your throat fills with snow
and when you turn again you shiver as if you are wingless
wingless
you can move
in only one direction now
deeper
this is when you know
you should have stayed home
this is when you know this is
not your element
when you know
you have been blown way off course
that water changes its face every day
and the faces you love blur
in that churning
that the whispers in the thick flood of flakes
come from elsewhere
that the ones who gave you shelter
are gone
that the cracking of the spine of the frozen river
will be the last sound you will hear
the thump thump thump you hear in your head
is someone trapped inside your heart
yes this is when you know
your ancestors are wanderers
singing tunes you never knew you knew
you remember
every word of the song
that the wind rips apart and flings
but how quickly your throat fills with snow
and when you turn again you shiver as if you are wingless
wingless
you can move
in only one direction now
deeper
Poems:
https://kenyonreview.org/contributor/zilka-joseph/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90301/the-rice-fields
https://poems.com/poem/for-the-birds
https://kenyonreview.org/contributor/zilka-joseph/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90301/the-rice-fields
https://poems.com/poem/for-the-birds
Reviews:
World Literature Today: https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2024/may/sweet-malida-zilka-joseph?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0t-jAs9fdP7E4qQQGyVZvXePpnlAGmD-g0ICvfOBNom4boxMBmD3rpPf4_aem_Ab5qqE5cWFi3WgO_FGMG7pYyZSNrd6lbhU5Y4UTjx1fxdGqlrEVuhVAjOP96YAMVdH5H7RrsSZwp0SRhALyzWRdu
Asian Review of Books: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/in-our-beautiful-bones-by-zilka-joseph/
Asian Review of Books: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/sweet-malida-memories-of-a-bene-israel-woman-by-zilka-joseph/
World Literature Today: https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2024/may/sweet-malida-zilka-joseph?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0t-jAs9fdP7E4qQQGyVZvXePpnlAGmD-g0ICvfOBNom4boxMBmD3rpPf4_aem_Ab5qqE5cWFi3WgO_FGMG7pYyZSNrd6lbhU5Y4UTjx1fxdGqlrEVuhVAjOP96YAMVdH5H7RrsSZwp0SRhALyzWRdu
Asian Review of Books: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/in-our-beautiful-bones-by-zilka-joseph/
Asian Review of Books: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/sweet-malida-memories-of-a-bene-israel-woman-by-zilka-joseph/
Interviews:
The Wise Owl: https://www.thewiseowl.art/talking-books-zilka-joseph
Ann Arbor District Library, PULP: https://pulp.aadl.org/node/579622
Forward: https://forward.com/culture/617986/indian-jewish-food-poetry-bene-israel/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3deFH25EI_j4KFuE61j17vWYcSLgIYERb3XHazeu75OGfMuPGCJ2rFbeI_aem_ARZ5BzkrpZ52Chg_P1RVRvRAzcbogGbrCrW8ScVI0C_88qeoBapjnnLchMCcMrQOW-C4ZFp5nU06b29cV9BweN3U
The Wise Owl: https://www.thewiseowl.art/talking-books-zilka-joseph
Ann Arbor District Library, PULP: https://pulp.aadl.org/node/579622
Forward: https://forward.com/culture/617986/indian-jewish-food-poetry-bene-israel/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3deFH25EI_j4KFuE61j17vWYcSLgIYERb3XHazeu75OGfMuPGCJ2rFbeI_aem_ARZ5BzkrpZ52Chg_P1RVRvRAzcbogGbrCrW8ScVI0C_88qeoBapjnnLchMCcMrQOW-C4ZFp5nU06b29cV9BweN3U
Other Links:
Stateside, NPR: Interview with April Baer: https://www.michiganpublic.org/show/stateside/2024-02-07/stateside-wednesday-feb-7-2024?fbclid=IwAR1728JDv_-HRRdAvMxJG8XDSZnVW9Ltiv2PW6-3jVDR54HMSOFip1gcDBM
MPR/WCBN, University of Michigan. Living Writers Radio Interview with T. Hetzel about Sharp Blue Search of Flame on 4/20/2016: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/living-writers-2016-04-20/id121092869?i=367223921&mt=2
Rattle Podcast, discussion of In Our Beautiful Bones, hosted by the editor, Timothy Green:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVhV3DXTTjg
Stateside, NPR: Interview with April Baer: https://www.michiganpublic.org/show/stateside/2024-02-07/stateside-wednesday-feb-7-2024?fbclid=IwAR1728JDv_-HRRdAvMxJG8XDSZnVW9Ltiv2PW6-3jVDR54HMSOFip1gcDBM
MPR/WCBN, University of Michigan. Living Writers Radio Interview with T. Hetzel about Sharp Blue Search of Flame on 4/20/2016: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/living-writers-2016-04-20/id121092869?i=367223921&mt=2
Rattle Podcast, discussion of In Our Beautiful Bones, hosted by the editor, Timothy Green:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVhV3DXTTjg
Mini Interview (2019)
Your poetics?
Poetry is art. I look for the kernel of truth or feel where “ the heat” lies in pages of unfettered, unabashed writing, distill it, shape it, layer it into a poem with a sharp eye and ear for craft, language, form, tone, voice, effect, etc., and work toward transforming it into something beautiful so it can lift off the page and shine.
Your influences?
Vikram Seth, Nissim Ezekiel, Tagore. Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lorna Goodison, Nikki Finney, Natalie Diaz, Laura Kasischke, Linda Gregerson, Marge Piercy, W.S Merwin, Allen Ginsberg, the English Metaphysical, Romantic, and Victorian poets, Shakespeare. To name a few!
Why is the Matwaala fest and collective relevant and needed?
We need to celebrate South Asian poetry in all its forms and variety and give it a larger and more significant platform. Our work needs to be recognized and included in the world of American poetry.
Poetry is art. I look for the kernel of truth or feel where “ the heat” lies in pages of unfettered, unabashed writing, distill it, shape it, layer it into a poem with a sharp eye and ear for craft, language, form, tone, voice, effect, etc., and work toward transforming it into something beautiful so it can lift off the page and shine.
Your influences?
Vikram Seth, Nissim Ezekiel, Tagore. Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lorna Goodison, Nikki Finney, Natalie Diaz, Laura Kasischke, Linda Gregerson, Marge Piercy, W.S Merwin, Allen Ginsberg, the English Metaphysical, Romantic, and Victorian poets, Shakespeare. To name a few!
Why is the Matwaala fest and collective relevant and needed?
We need to celebrate South Asian poetry in all its forms and variety and give it a larger and more significant platform. Our work needs to be recognized and included in the world of American poetry.