A new poetry project hoping to amplify and celebrate the best of South Asian poetry from all over the world has launched its anthology. Third Space, curated by award-winning artist and poet, Suman Gujral, and funded by Arts Council England, features fifty poets from all over the world.
Published by Renard Press, the collection brings established voices together alongside new and emerging writers. The book of verse celebrates diversity in identity exploring themes of homeland, belonging, family, faith and food and features celebrated poets Moniza Alvi, Rishi Dastidar, Rupinder Kaur Waraich and Laila Sumpton among others. Poems were chosen by a panel of judges including Navkiran Kaur Mann, Reshma Ruia, Gita Ralleigh and Farhana Shaikh from more than 200 submissions.
While British South Asian poetry is flourishing, it remains underrepresented in mainstream publishing. Third Space offers an important platform and showcase for South Asian poetry and poets. The project seeks to reach a wider audience through a series of workshops and events that will take place throughout the summer. The project was borne out of a need to create a much-needed community for South Asian poets and elevate voices that often go unheard.
Artist Suman Gujral wrote her first poem aged 44 following an online attack in 2020. She said: “My poetry is the light that came from the wound. It has enhanced my practice and allowed me to communicate on so many more levels. As I spoke up about what had happened through my poems, and as more and more people who I hadn’t previously known stepped up and shared their stories, I realised how important it is to create a safe, inclusive, compassionate space. This is what the Third Space project is about.”
Suman Gujral is a multidisciplinary artist working with print, textile, and poetry. Her parents were forcibly displaced by the 1947 Partition of India, and came to the UK seventeen years later. Her history as a child of refugees and immigrants underlies her practice, and community engagement, inclusivity, compassion and joy are central to her work. She reflects on the cycle of war and displacement, rooted in colonial action, which un-homed her parents, through visual and written works, and is awed by the human ability to survive – thrive, even – in the aftermath of traumatic events. She strongly believes that art should be part of our everyday lives rather than a white-space experience.