Yuyutsu Sharma Explained

Yuyutsu Sharma
Birth Date:January 5, 1960
Birth Place:Nakodar, Punjab, India
Occupation:Poet editor writer translator
Alma Mater:University of Rajasthan, Tribhuvan University

Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma (Nepali: युयुत्सु शर्मा; born January 5, 1960) is a Nepalese-Indian poet and journalist. He was born at Nakodar, Punjab and moved to Nepal at an early age. He writes in English and Nepali.[1] [2]

Life and career

Sharma received his early education first at DAV College, Nakodar, Punjab, and later at Baring Union Christian College, Batala and University of Rajasthan. While at Rajasthan, Sharma met American poet David Ray while assisting Ray on an issue of New Letters. Ray introduced Sharma to the work of prominent American poets such as William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg, and encouraged Sharma to publish his own work. Sharma has called meeting Ray a "watershed" moment in his life.[3]

Yuyutsu remained active in the literary circles of Rajasthan and acted in plays by Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Harold Pinter, and Edward Albee. Later he taught at various campuses of Punjab University, Chandigarh and Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu.

He met German Photographer Andreas Stimm in 2004 and his collaboration with Stimm resulted in three books of picture/poetry: Nepal Trilogy:Photographs and Poetry on Annapurna, Everest, Helambu & Langtang.[4]

In 2006, he published The Lake Fewa and a Horse[5] and later in 2008, Annapurna Poems, Selected and New.[6] According to a review of Annapurna Poems by critic Jim Feast, Sharma operates "at the edge of a belief system or way of living that has fallen short", a position from which great poetry emerges according to essayist and American poet laureate Allen Tate.[7]

His 2009 poetry collection Space Cake features artwork by Henry Avignon. Reminiscent of traditions in beat poetry, it chronicles his travels in Europe and America, including an episode in Amsterdam where he accidentally consumes a cannabis edible, from which the collection gets its title.

In 2016 he published Quaking Cantos, a collection inspired by the 2015 Nepal earthquakes featuring Sharma's poetry and photographs by Prasant Shrestha.[8] In the Kathmandu Tribune, Arun Budhathoki wrote that it "immortalized the tragic event and captured the bitter memories of the Himalayan on a grand scale".[9] Andrea Dawn Bryant called it "stunningly heart-wrenching, albeit healing".

In 2020 he published Panaharu Khali Chhan, a collection of poems in Nepali, many translated from English. Critic Bibek Adhikari wrote that "reading Sharma in English is a delightful experience; reading him in Nepali, a somewhat bewildering and disconcerting one".[10]

Sharma is the editor of Pratik, A Quarterly Magazine of Contemporary Writing. As of 2020 he was a visiting poet at Columbia University.[11] He is the recipient of fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia, The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.[12]

Poetry

IN TRANSLATION

Non-fiction

Translations

Edited

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sharma. Yuyutsu Rd. About Yuyutsu. February 19, 2013.
  2. Web site: Hunter. Poem. Biography of Yuyutsu Sharma. Poemhunter. February 22, 2013.
  3. Web site: DeFord . Susie . 2010-04-05 . Subtext: Kathmandu Poet In New York . 2023-02-04 . BOMB Magazine.
  4. Book: Nepal-Trilogy: Annapurna, Everest, Helambu & Langtang . 2010 . ebook . February 22, 2013.
  5. Book: The Lake Fewa & A Horse. 2006. Nirala. 818569334X. 86.
  6. Book: Annapurna Poems. 2008. Nirala. 978-8182500136. 150. Hardcover.
  7. Web site: Feast . Jim . 2008-07-16 . Poetry: Rounding Out the Edges . 2023-02-04 . .
  8. Bryant . Andrea Dawn . 2017 . Quaking Cantos: Nepal Earthquake Poems (review) . World Literature Today . 91 . 3 . 110 . 10.1353/wlt.2017.0180 . 245656727 . 1945-8134.
  9. News: Budhathoki . Arun . 2017-08-04 . Book Review: Quaking Cantos – Nepal Earthquake Poems . Kathmandu Tribune .
  10. Web site: Adhikari . Bibek . 2020-09-15 . Poems that travel across and beyond the Himalayas . 2023-02-04 . .
  11. Web site: Budhathoki . Arun . 2020-03-01 . Himalayan Poet Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma Speaks . 2023-02-04 . .
  12. Book: Sharma, Yuyutsu RD. POÈMES DE L'HIMALAYA. 2009. 978-2-296-10213-2. 80. fr. book.