Launch of SOMA. POEMS BY A.K. RAMANUJAN
with additional features
edited by Guillermo Rodríguez and Krishna Ramanujan
published by Penguin Random House India on 25th September 2023 https://penguin.co.in/book/soma-2/
For A.K. Ramanujan, who infused his diverse knowledge of Indian literatures and traditions into his poetry, the idea of Soma, the mysterious plant used by Vedic priests to extract ambrosia, fed his creativity.
Sifting through Ramanujan’s archives, the editors discovered a series of unpublished ‘Soma poems’ whose style and theme set them apart from his earlier work. This volume includes these poems besides essays and an interview that contextualize them. It also contains a foreword written by the poet and critic A.K. Mehrotra.
Krishna Ramanujan’s essay ‘Hummel’s Miracle: The Search for Soma’ explores the connections between the poems and the quest for the plant’s identity from the 1960s to the present. ‘The “Ordinary Mystery” Trip: Soma in A.K. Ramanujan’s Poetry’ by Guillermo Rodriguez dives deep into Ramanujan’s layered perspective on Soma. ‘The Post-Vedic History of the Soma Plant’, by Wendy Doniger, which influenced Ramanujan’s perception of Soma, originally published in 1968, is reprinted here with a special preface. The interview conducted in Chicago in 1982 between Malayali poet K. Ayyappa Paniker and Ramanujan offers a peek into Ramanujan’s perspectives on poetry and translation.
While Soma focuses on A.K. Ramanujan’s poems and his creative mindset as an expatriate in America, it also provides a glimpse into a fascinating period in Western Indology when Indian philosophies and traditions were debated, some of which became so ingrained that they influence contemporary culture to this day.
REVIEWS AND ARTICLES ON SOMA. POEMS BY A.K. RAMANUJAN
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2023/page1/ramanujan—s-poetry-comes-to-life-3-decades-after-death.html
https://www.cannabismagazine.net/soma-la-exploracion-psicodelica-de-ak-ramanujan/
EVENTS IN 2024
ONLINE EVENTS IN 2020
4th JULY 2020
Online session “A.K. Ramanujan: A Journey`s Diary” as part of the Brave New World series organised by Jaipur Literature Festival, with Krishna Ramanujan:
25th JULY 2020
Online session “A.K. Ramanujan: A Poet of Particulars” organised by Artmantram and Bangalore International Centre as part of the Glass House Festival:
REVIEWS OF JOURNEYS. A POET`S DIARY (A.K. RAMANUJAN) EDITED BY KRISHNA RAMANUJAN AND GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ
https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2019.1631036
https://biblio-india.org/archives/19/OD19/index.asp
https://biblio-india.org/showart.asp?inv=22&mp=OD19
https://biblio-india.org/showart.asp?inv=19&mp=AJ19
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/09/26/ak-ramanujan-waiting-perfect-word/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449855.2019.1631036
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/read/akramanujan-and-his-diaries/article28404359.ece
https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/books-grace-touched-loneliness-of-the-artist/301694
https://www.asianage.com/books/260519/a-memoir-that-mind-maps-a-creative-genius.html
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/books/ak-ramanujan-a-poet-s-testament
https://www.odisha.plus/2019/05/book-review-ak-ramanujan-journeys/
https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/culture/raman-always-guide-guru
RECENT EVENTS ON JOURNEYS. A POET´S DIARY:
JANUARY 2020
Session at Kerala Literature Festival, with Krishna Ramanujan, moderated by Chandan Gowda:
https://youtu.be/fAk4t8rpNVs?list=PLzr4YBKjLzpWNf0yAPEXfsaKhp9fVWWyT
Session at Bangalore International Centre, with Krishna Ramanujan, moderated by V.S. Sreedhara:
https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/video/a-poets-diary-journey-through-ak-ramanujans-thoughts
Session at Jaipur Literature Festival, with Krishna Ramanujan, moderated by Ranjit Hoskote:
https://www.pscp.tv/ZEEJLF/1rmGPXvrpjDGN
Session at Algebra The Club, with Krishna Ramanujan:
OTHER ONLINE NEWS, PUBLICATIONS AND PODCASTS:
http://blog.oup.com/2016/08/windows-perception-ramanujan/
https://soundcloud.com/oupacademic/author-guillermo-rodriguez-talks-about-the-poems-of-ak-ramanujan
INTERVIEWS AND REVIEWS OF MY BOOK WHEN MIRRORS ARE WINDOWS. A VIEW OF A.K. RAMANUJAN`S POETICS:
Selby, Martha. Review in Journal of Asian Studies 77.2 (2018): 565-567. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/when-mirrors-are-windows-a-view-of-a-k-ramanujans-poetics-by-guillermo-rodriguez-new-delhi-oxford-university-press-2016-570-pp-isbn-9780199463602-cloth-also-available-as-ebook/99678F4E6114795F511F289060820CB1
Srilata, K. Review in Kavya Bharati 29 (2017): 171-174.
Subramaniam, Arundhathi. “Speaking of Ramanujan”, review in The Indian Express (27th July 2017). http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/speaking-of-ramanujan-guillermo-rodriguez-when-mirrors-are-windows-4772031/
King, Bruce. “Identities”, review article in Journal of Postcolonial Writing (May 2017).http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449855.2017.1307353?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Gupta, Trisha. “The Poet-Scholar”, interview in The Indian Quarterly (April-June 2017): 16-17. http://indianquarterly.com/the-poet-scholar/ See complete intreview in: http://trishagupta.blogspot.com.es/2017/06/the-poet-scholar-ak-ramanujan.html
Das, Aratrika. “From Prakriti to Samskriti”, review article in The Book Review (January 2017): 11. http://www.thebookreviewindia.org/articles/archives-5332/2017/January/1/prakriti-to-samskriti.html
Gowda, Chandan. “Method to the Mad Singer”, review article in Outlook (14th November 2016): 68. http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/method-to-the-mad-singer/298087
Gowda, Chandan. “Ramanujan´s Poetry is Alive”, interview in The Hindu (25th December 2016). http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/%E2%80%98Ramanujan%E2%80%99s-poetry-is-alive%E2%80%99/article16940817.ece
Excerpt from When Mirrors Are Windows in The Hindu (26th November 2016) http://www.thehindu.com/books/On-the-margins-of-mescaline/article16699804.ece
Mukherjee, Anusua. “Portrait of a Stranger”, review in The Telegraph (19th August 2016). https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160819/jsp/opinion/story_103137.jsp
EVENTS ON WHEN MIRRORS ARE WINDOWS:
SEPTEMBER 2016
US tour: JLF at Boulder, U. Chicago, UC Berkeley
Session at JLF at Boulder, with Philip Lutgendorf:
https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/boulder/speaker/guillermo-rodriguez/
Talk at Logan Centre, Universityof Chicago, with Jason Grunebaum:
https://arts.uchicago.edu/event/eye-india-mirrors-and-windows-view-ak-ramanujans-poetics
Talk and Performance at Institute for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley, with Robert Goldman:
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/sseas.html?event_ID=101992
https://it-clip.net/video/8vv-zRiNnRA/mirrors-and-windows-on-a-k-ramanujan-s-poetics.html
https://it-clip.net/video/aTSS8CZF3wY/ak-ramanujan-s-poetry-in-interpretative-dance.html
https://it-clip.net/video/TAV903ifVK4/ak-ramanujan-part-2.html
https://it-clip.net/video/7YaQ-1GwZbk/enacting-ramanujan-part-3-the-black-hen.html
OCTOBER 2016
Book presentation at University of Valladolid, Spain, with Sushma Bahl:
JANUARY 2017
India tour: N. Delhi, Jaipur, Chennai
Book presentation at Sahitya Akademi, N. Delhi, with H.S. Shivaprakash:
http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pdf/literary_forum_11-01-17.pdf
Session at Hindu Lit for Life Festival in Chennai, with Sadanand Menon:
http://www.thehindulfl.com/speakers/guillermo-rodriguez
Session at JLF Jaipur, with Philip Lutgendorf and Arshia Sattar:
https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/speaker-post/guillermo-rodriguez/
MARCH 2017
When Mirrors Are Windows, a dance-theatre performance based on A.K. Ramanujan`s diaries, journals, poems and translations. The first time a bi-lingual version (English-Spanish) has been performed in Spain, by Guillermo Rodríguez (recitation) and Monica de la Fuente (dance) at Casa de la India, Valladolid, to celebrate A.K. Ramanujan`s birthday on 16th March 2017: http://monicadelafuente-danza.blogspot.com.es/2017/03/when-mirrors-are-windows-estreno-en.html
APRIL 2017
Book presentation at Embassy of India, Madrid, with Juan Arnau and Carlos Aganzo:
http://www.embassyindia.es/media/photo-gallery/poetry-and-dance-ambassador-residence-2017/
MAY 2017
Book presentation at Casa Asia, Barcelona, with Agustin Paniker and Jesús Aguado:
https://www.casaasia.es/actividad/detalle/218584
UK tour: The Nehru Centre London and JLF at British Library London
When Mirrors Are Windows performed at The Nehru Centre, London on 18th May, 2017:
Book presentation at The Nehru Centre, London, with Farrukh Dhondy:
JLF at British Library with Arundhati Subramaniam and Daljit Nagra:
http://jlfatbritishlibrary.jaipurliteraturefestival.org/programme/
https://it-clip.net/video/vcAo8J77SU8/hyphenations-of-poets-cultures-and-continents.html
OCTOBER 2017
Sounds of Silence at Tijara Fort Rajasthan:
http://teamworkarts.com/event/sounds-of-silence/
Session at Bangalore Literature Festival with Girish Karnad and Chandan Gowda:
https://bangaloreliteraturefestival.org/tag/guillermo-rodriguez/
Book presentation at Kitab Khana, Mumbai, with Shyam Benegal and Anjali Purohit:
https://www.timeout.com/mumbai/events/a-conversation-on-ak-ramanujan
Performance and readings at Laya Lasya Lahari Festival, Bharatiya Vidya Bangalore Bangalore
FEBRUARY 2018
Session at Kerala Literature Festival, Calicut, with Jerry Pinto:
http://www.keralaliteraturefestival.com/session/a-view-of-a-k-ramanujan-s-poetics/
RECENT PRESS:
http://www.tourismnewslive.com/2018/02/12/spanish-delight-gods-country/
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/640029/revisiting-legend.html
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/640090/a-k-ramanujan-didnt-get.html
http://thediplomatinspain.com/en/indias-embassy-presents-essay-poet-k-ramanujan-celebrate-book-day/
http://mybigplunge.com/news/news-flash/jaipur-literature-festival-anniversary-speakers/
https://jaipurbeat.com/2017/01/10/13-not-to-be-missed-jlf-speakers-in-2017/
http://www.informauva.com/carlos-aganzo-no-otra-figura-la-ramanujan-la-literatura-india/
Guillermo Rodríguez 