About

First, about the poster pic on my blog header:

“Sois jeune et tais toi” is a slogan from the Left-wing student protests in Paris, May 1968. Translated roughly into English, it means: “Be young and shut up!” Do you see?

My name is NABINA DAS. I am a poet, fiction writer and sketch artist. My first book, FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAJRA,  a novel, is available from Cedar Books, New Delhi (long-listed in the prestigious Crossword-Vodafone Book Awards 2011). You can also source the book on Amazon and as a Kindle edition. Three of my poetry manuscripts are currently under consideration with publishers in different continents. I am in the peer review committee of the eclectic literary journal THE FOUR QUARTERS MAGAZINE published from Northeast India, a regular contributor to PRAIRIE SCHOONER literary Journal of University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a fiction editor with STORYQUARTERLY journal from Rutgers University.

I have an MA (Linguistics); JNU, Delhi, and an MFA (Poetry); Rutgers University, US. My poetry has been published in a variety of journals and anthologies in North America, Asia, Australia and the UK. Apart from winning some major all-India poetry prizes (HarperCollins-India and Open Space; UNISUN-Reliance; Prakriti Foundation, etc.), I’m the recipient of a 2012 Charles Wallace Fellowship in Creative Writing at University of Stirling (Scotland, UK); the 2012 Sangam House Lavanya Sankaran Fiction Fellowship (Bangalore); a 2011 NYS Summer Writers Institute Fellowship at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, US); a 2010 Associate  Fellowship with Sarai-CSDS (Delhi); a 2007 Joan Jakobson Fiction scholarship from Wesleyan Writers Conference (Wesleyan University, US), and a 2007 Julio Lobo Fiction scholarship from Lesley Writers Conference (Lesley University, Mass., US). Music, theater, cinema, reading, etc. are my interests, while I have been a journalist in the US and India for a period of time. I am trained in North Indian Classical music as well as folk songs, although I don’t get much chance to perform these days. I used to be into “street theater”, but that is an occasional hobby now,or a teaching tool in classrooms and workshops. Politics and our current times engage me a great deal.

What I write here are mostly snippets and personal views. If you don’t agree with them, at least be respectful while responding. Stick around and know me better although I’m no frequent blogger.

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• 2012 Charles Wallace Fellow at University of Stirling, Scotland
• 2012 Sangam House fiction fellow, Bangalore, India
• 2011 fellowship and workshop with NYS Summer Writers Institute, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, US
• MFA (Poetry), Rutgers University, US
• Poet, Fiction Writer and Journalist — ‘Footprints in the Bajra‘ – a novel from Cedar Books, India; 2010 Sarai-CSDS Associate Fellowship (City as Studio project), Delhi; 1st Prize in UNISUN Reliance Time Out national poetry contest 09-10; 2nd Prizes in Prakriti Foundation open poetry contest 09 and Open Space-HarperCollins-India Poetry Contest 08; Poetry/Short Fiction/Essays/Reviews in journals/anthologies/zines in three continents; Kala Ghoda winner of 2008 Book Pitch Contest; 07 Joan Jakobson Fiction Scholarship, Wesleyan University, CT.; 07 Julio Lobo Fiction Scholarship, Lesley College, Cambridge, Mass.
• THE ITHACA JOURNAL (Ithaca, NY) — Assistant Metro Editor, News and Night desk. Editorial Board member. Towns Page editor.
• SAVE THE CHILDREN (Bhuj, Gujarat) — Media Consultant
• TEHELKA.COM (News website, New Delhi) — News Editor, Current Affairs. Published commentaries, articles, reports and essays.
• NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR INDIA (New Delhi) — Media and Advocacy Programme Officer; Edited, wrote for newsletter Communique; designed and edited all press material and annual report; chief coordinator with journalist Sanjoy Hazarika for the Northeast Media Fellowship Programme
• CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES (New Delhi) — press officer
• DOWN TO EARTH (Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi) — copyeditor, rewriter; published articles and reports.
• TAUGHT LINGUISTICS to undergraduates at JNU, New Delhi
• FREELANCED with Ananda Bazaar Patrika (New Delhi); TAUGHT ENGLISH to foreign embassy staff in India (New Delhi)
• THE SENTINEL (Guwahati, Assam) — subeditor, news desk; Editorial Page assistant; published articles, reports, middles.
• TAUGHT middle school English and ELT to non-English speaking embassy staff in Delhi, India.