Kalagora

One of The Times' "ten rising stars of British poetry". 'Kalagora' is a Hindi neologism meaning 'black man / white man'. This book tells his story: from a wild Millennium eve party in Manhattan to homecoming amid the grime and glory of London's East End. In this dazzling debut collection by Siddhartha Bose, the global wanderer pays witness to traffic accidents and street surrealism in Mumbai – the irresistible 'city of motion' – observing the uncanny and the unexpected at the start of the 21st century. Across continents and time-zones, a story emerges of love, chaos and addiction, a tale that evokes the colour and raw energy of these hybrid, multi-cultural cities. "Bose's métier is a kind of breathless urban Romanticism… daring the reader to keep up." Simon Turner Siddhartha Bose is a poet and performer based in London. He grew up in Mumbai and Calcutta, followed by a seven year itch in the USA. Selections of his work have appeared in the anthologies City State: New London Poetry (Penned in the Margins, 2009) and Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century (Bloodaxe, 2009). Bose has recently completed a PhD at Queen Mary, University of London, where he also teaches poetry and Shakespeare. He is playwright-in-residence with WhynotTheatre, Toronto.

Table of Contents:
I... Prolectric Kalagora II... Sunya Little Taste Journey Schooldays Romanticism Nameless Sleepless (in America) Wandering shadow Proposal Sex and the City Back and Forth Swansong, Mile End East Village, New York Entracte III... Maya Sketching Eye Candy Hampi (Ruins) Garden, Bangalore Still Life: Artichoke Triangle Shoreditch Serenade IV... Nagri Prologue/novel Animal City Finding Time Chinatown, New York Benares Portrait, Little Lane, Calcutta Istanbul, November, '03 Mother's Lament V... Epilepsis Sketching (slight return)

About the Author :
There is multiculturalism, romanticism, orientalism; travel, rebellion, jazz; fantasy, love, sex. Kalagora is one of the most impressive debut volumes I have read in recent years. - Sudeep Sen Kalagora is a vital book of poems for the 21st century. - James Byrne Siddhartha Bose is a poet and performer based in London. He grew up in Bombay and Calcutta, followed by a seven year itch in the USA. Selections of his work have appeared in the anthologies City State: New London Poetry and Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century. Bose has recently completed a PhD at Queen Mary, University of London. He is playwright-in-residence with WhynotTheatre, Toronto, and was dubbed one of the 'ten rising stars of British poetry' by The Times.

Review :
There is a sense of an Odyssean voyage, a continuous exile, full of temptation and danger ... This is a collection that is always dramatic, always in tune with the sensational possibilities of language. - Wasafiri One of the most exciting first collections I've come across in a long time ... Kalagora bestrides continents and celebrates cities as engines of creativity where dogs talk in hieroglyphs and where a man can be a moth. - Ian McMillan, The Verb, BBC Radio 3 Kalagora is an incantatory assertion, if not of identity, then of power and confidence in moving through identities. - Magma Bose's use of language - invented words, nouns made into verbs and other colourful concoctions - produces a writhing, seething, pulsating poetry. - Poetry Book Society Bulletin Siddhartha Bose intrigues, surprises, shocks and seduces the reader, pushing the text to the edges of truth. This is a guttural, painfully honest text, yet at times tender and emotive, the sound of the poems creating a form of sculpture for the ear. A truly contemporary work which does what good poetry does best: to make the personal universal and the international local. - Anthony Joseph