Vinita Agrawal is an Indian poet, editor and curator. She is the author of four books of poetry and the editor of an anthology on climate change. She was short listed for 2018 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for her poetry collection ''The Silk of Hunger'' and awarded the prize jointly. She is on the advisory board of the Tagore Literary Prize. She is a poetry editor with Usawa Literary Review.

Early life and education

Vinita Agrawal was born on 18 August 1965 in

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital of ...

. She completed her schooling in Anand (

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

), Kalimpong, and

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Later she completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees with political science from The

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

, and a diploma in computer programming from

Aptech Aptech Limited is an Indian vocational training services provider headquartered Mumbai. Ever since its commencement in 1986 and with a current presence of over 800 centres globally, Aptech Limited has ventured into diverse sectors ranging f ...

Works

Her poems were published in ''Asiancha'', Constellations, The Fox Chase Review, Pea River Journal, Open Road Review, Stockholm Literary Review, Poetry Pacific and other journals. She served as the poetry editor of Usawa Literary Review. She was influenced by the works of

Jayanta Mahapatra Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He is the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classic ...

, Pablo Neruda and Rumi. She writes poems with the themes and subjects like

existential angst Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

and women's empowerment. She is an author of four books of poetry: ''Two Full Moons'', ''Words Not Spoken'', ''The Longest Pleasure'' and ''The Silk Of Hunger''. ''Two Full Moons'' explores subjects including birth, death, existence, family, soul and heart. In 2020, she edited anthology entitled ''Open your Eyes: An Anthology on Climate Change''. It features poetry and prose written by 63 Indian writers. It investigates human relationships with the natural world. She co-edited ''Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, 2020-21'' with Sukrita Paul Kumar.

Honour

*Nominated for the Best of the Net Awards 2011 by Contemporary Literary Review of India. *Won Gayatri GaMarsh Memorial Award in the English category (2015). *Won second prize at TallGrass Writers Guild Award (2017). *The Proverse Poetry Prize (2017). *She was short listed for Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize (2018).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agrawal, Vinita 1965 births Living people People from Bikaner Women writers from Rajasthan 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Indian poets