BySukant Deepak

October 29, 2021 (IANSlife) Poet Adil Jehangir Jussawalla will be the Poet Laureate of the 12th Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2021.

Adil Jussawalla’s many-layered, clear-eyed, uncompromising poetry is mainly rooted in the city landscape, describing equally its beauty and degradation, its position as a place of refuge as well as exploitation, and the acceptance and meaning of it as home. He is also renowned for the historical breadth and sweep of his compositions. One of his best known and oft-quoted poems is ‘Sea Breeze’ which describes Mumbai as a refuge for those displaced by the Partition. The body of his work is contained in three main anthologies: ‘Land’s End’, ‘Missing Person’, and ‘Trying To Say Goodbye’, for the last of which he received the Sahitya Akademi Award.

He is a graduate of the Universities of Bombay and Oxford and of the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He worked for some years in the UK, after which he returned to Mumbai where he was a professor of English at St Xavier’s College and later Literary Editor at several leading Indian publications. His work has appeared in many anthologies. Together with his distinguished peers Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Arun Kolatkar, and Gieve Patel, he helped to establish ‘Clearing House’, a poet's publishing co-operative.

Accepting the Poet Laureateship for Tata Literature Live! At the Mumbai LitFest 2021, Adil Jussawalla said: “It’s an honour to be named Poet Laureate of the Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest. Poetry is the oldest, most quintessential, and often a most accessible form of human literary expression, and I am pleased to know that the Mumbai Litfest gives its practitioners a well-respected platform every year.”

Director of the Festival, Amy Fernandes, said: “We are delighted that Jussawalla has accepted the Poet Laureateship for the 2021 edition of Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest. No reader in English, especially in Mumbai, is unfamiliar with his name or work. His poems are profound, perceptive, and memorable and the impact of his writing has influenced generations of poets after him, up to this day.”

Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons said, “It is an absolute privilege to present the Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureate Award to Adil Jussawalla. A poet, a translator, a journalist, a lecturer and a man who co-created the poet’s publishing co-operative – Adil dons so many hats so well! We salute his incredible contribution to Indian English Poetry.”  

Previous Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureates include Javed Akhtar, K. Satchidanandan, Jayanta Mahapatra, Gulzar, Keki Daruwalla, Vikram Seth, and Joy Goswami.

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Sukant Deepak can be contacted at Sukant.d@ians.in