Contributions
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Resistance and Resignation in Will Russo’s Glass Manifesto
“Glass Manifesto is a meditative collection of poems that call to resist the powers that move the world at times, or resign and offer oneself up to them at others.” Review by PCR contributor, Drishya.
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And Yet Held by T. De Los Reyes
As if an exploding star: T. De Los Reyes’s love-poems of self-discovery in the ordinary magic of the everyday. Read the review by new PCR contributor, Drishya.
About the Contributor
Drishya (he/him ⸱ b. 1997) is a writer and artist based in Kolkata, India, publishing under a single name to protest India’s caste system. He was shortlisted for the Mogford Prize and nominated for the BBA Photography Prize – One Shot Award in 2022. He is @drishyadotxyz on Instagram and X.
Q & A
Can you tell our readers a little about yourself and your work?
I’m a writer and documentary photographer based in Kolkata, India. I’m currently working with WWF-India documenting the intangible cultural heritage of the agro-pastoralist Monpa tribe in Arunachal Pradesh—a north-east Indian state bordering Bhutan and China. The Monpa are a Tibetan-Burmese tribe indigenous to western Arunachal Pradesh, and they are also the state’s largest denomination of Tibetan-Buddhists. They have a unique, syncretic culture with elements of both Tibetan Buddhism and the pre-Buddhist, polytheistic Bon Tsoi faith. They have a long history of community-led conservation and environmental custodianship of the Eastern Himalayan rainforests, and they possess rich indigenous knowledge systems of stone and wood architecture (including a highly sustainable water-mill run by renewable rain-fed streams and rivulets), sheep’s wool and Eri silk handloom textile, and uncultivated wild foods—something I’m particularly interested in besides literature and photography.
How long have you been a writer and how did you get started?
I have been a writer since 2016. I started as a contributing writer for lettrs—a now-defunct social media app for writers and poets. My first professional break came when one of my short stories placed 5th in the Times of India Write India contest—one of India’s top short fiction competitions—in 2017. I have been freelancing as a writer and documentary photographer since then, focusing on projects at the intersection of literature and photography when I’m not writing fiction or creative nonfiction.
What accomplishments are you proud of and what do you still want to do?
In 2022, one of my short stories was shortlisted for the Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing; and in 2024, I was selected for the ICA Long Form Food Writing Mentorship. I was mentored by Charmaine O’Brien (author of the Penguin Food Guide to India) as part of that program, and I’m currently working on a monograph about the diverse uncultivated wild food culture of India’s indigenous tribes and their vast forest food knowledge systems.
What do you look for in a book, and who are some favorite writers?
I’m always looking to be surprised, in some way or the other, when I pick up a book. Whether it’s the subject, the craft, or something totally unexpected, as long as a book doesn’t bore me, I’m more than happy to spend my time with it.
As a Bengali, I grew up absorbed in the rich literary heritage of Bengali writers and poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Shankha Ghosh, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shakti Chatterjee, Mahashweta Devi, Suchitra Bhattacharya, Nabaneeta Deb Sen and others, and then moved on to English literature and literature in translation in my teens. I read whatever I could get my hands on all through my teens and twenties, but that also meant I did not finish a lot of the stuff that bored me. I have too many favorite writers to name any. I’m reading Ma Jian’s Beijing Coma right now.
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Contents
Check out new poetry books published the week of 7/2 from Black Lawrence Press, LSU Press, Persea, Omnidawn, Bloodaxe Books and Central Avenue Publishing.
Check out new poetry chapbooks for June 2024 from Driftwood Press, Sheila-Na-Gig Inc., Diode Editions, Querencia Press, The Poetry Box, Finishing Line Press, Bottlecap Press and an Editor’s Pick from Tupelo Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 7/9 from Finishing Line Press, New Directions, Phoneme Media, University of Calgary Press and Curbstone Books.
July ‘24: A Fledgling Journal No More
We’ve completed our first volume, there’s a new featured chapbook poem, and we’re starting to look for a Poetry Editor to expand what we publish. Check out the editor’s note for July 2024.
Chapbook Poem: Whenua by Nicola Andrews
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for July 2024, “Whenua” from Māori Maid Difficult by Nicola Andrews, along with a few words from the poet.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 7/16 from Finishing Line Press, Soft Skull, Penguin Books, Regal House Publishing and University Of Minnesota Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 7/23 from Host Publications, W. W. Norton & Company, Carcanet Press Ltd., LSU Press, Finishing Line Press, The Song Cave and Wake Forest University Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 7/30 from Delete Press, Quale Press, Duke University Press, Seagull Books, Sarabande Books, Michigan State University Press and Alternating Current Press.
Southern Literary Tradition: On ‘Snake Lore’ by Jane Morton
In this essay, C.M. Crockford reviews “Snake Lore” by poet Jane Morton, a chapbook published by Black Lawrence Press in February 2024.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 8/6 from NYRB Poets, Belle Point Press, Finishing Line Press, Black Lawrence Press, Wayne State University Press, Milkweed Editions, Penguin Books, Bloodaxe Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Alice James Books, Mercer University Press and two Editor’s Picks from Coffee House Press and Wesleyan University Press.
Chapbook Poem: It’s okay to say the hurricane has an eye by Amanda Rabaduex
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for August 2024, “It’s okay to say the hurricane has an eye” from Resin in the Milky Way by Amanda Rabadeux, along with a few words from the poet.
Check out new poetry chapbooks for July 2024 from Seven Kitchens Press, Small Harbor Publishing, Belle Point Press, Orison Books, Variant Lit, Querencia Press, The Poetry Box, Bottlecap Press and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books coming the week of 8/13 from Querencia Press, Alice James Books, Finishing Line Press, University of New Mexico Press, Harbour Publishing, Knopf, Amistad, TriQuarterly and Red Hen Press.
Check out new poetry books coming the week of 8/20 from Querencia Press, Finishing Line Press, McClelland & Stewart, Zephyr Press, Tin House Books, W. W. Norton & Company, Red Hen Press, Graywolf Press, Wesleyan University Press and an Editor’s Pick from Copper Canyon Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 8/27 from Carcanet Press Ltd., Beltway Editions, Finishing Line Press,, LSU Press, Milkweed Editions, Tupelo Press, Guernica Editions, University of Nebraska Press and Texas Review Press.
Resistance and Resignation in Will Russo’s Glass Manifesto
“Glass Manifesto is a meditative collection of poems that call to resist the powers that move the world at times, or resign and offer oneself up to them at others.” Review by PCR contributor, Drishya.
Meet our contributor, Drishya, a writer and artist based in Kolkata, India, publishing under a single name to protest India’s caste system. Read about his writing life and other work.