Zinia Mitra is a teacher at the University of North Bengal and serves as the Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies. She has authored several books, including Indian Poetry in English: Critical Essays, Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Imagery and Experiential Identity, and The Concept of Motherhood in India: Myths, Theories and Realities. She has also written on topics such as Fourth Wave Feminism, Social Media, and (Sl)Activism. Zinia Mitra has served as a co-editor for Twentieth Century British Literature: Reconstructing Literary Sensibility and Interact. Her poems have been published in notable national and international journals, including Kavya Bharati, East Lit, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi), Asian Signature, Teesta Review, Setu, and Poetry Potion. Her translations have been featured in books and journals.She has been an invited poet on many occasions and also in Sahitya Akademi reading. Her poem “Earth” was recognized among the best poems of 2020 edited by hülya n. yılmaz. Additionally, Zinia Mitra is an editorial board member of Teesta Review, an International Journal of Poetry.
Some Words Never Sleep comes from the monsoon soul of Indian poet Zinia Mitra. A bilingual author and accomplished academic, Mitra pours her observations and insights into transformative poetry, evoking what it is to be a woman of India, a breathing soul in an ancient wondrous land. Mitra imbues her intense recollections, responses, and emotions in a myriad of carefully juxtaposed poems that fill the reader with a semblance of what it is to walk in her shoes. The gentle sway of her alacrity as a writer, her femininity and strength, the enduring quality of her life thus far, make for spellbinding reading.
Zinia Mitra places her finger on the pulse of modern Indian verse and finds worlds hitherto undiscovered, with a sumptuous range of evocative pieces that transport us into her universe. Artwork by gifted Indian artist Lakshmi Tara adds to this lush, sensuous journey. Some Words Never Sleep is a dream from which you will not wish to readily awaken from, as it unfolds in waves from the mandala of her mind.
“Zinia Mitra’s poems record each lived moment’s limitlessness where everything is, lives and breathes or just ceases to be unnoticed. For her, silences have their own modes of prayer. Time and again; asking is giving, Zinia responds to the very special intimacies including a sapling’s delayed growth through space and time.”
—Jaydeep Sarangi, a fellow contemporary poet and academic anchored in Kolkata/Jhargram.
“Zinia Mitra is a poet, feminist, honourable agent-provocatuer, and game-changer. Each poem in her new collection speaks to the challenges and opportunities of our times. Without denying difficulties, Mitra’s words give us hope. These poems signal the challenges, but also, the way forward. The language is precise, the imagery striking. This book echoes with presence and dreams towards better futures. It must be read.”
—Dr. Amelia Walker, published poet and lecturer in creative writing on Kaurna Land, aka the Adelaide Plains, at the University of South Australia.
To purchase Some Words Never Sleep, click here.
Publication Date: August 19, 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1951724108
Indie Blu(e) Publishing 