Mani Rao has authored twelve poetry collections and three books in translation from Sanskrit including the works of Kalidasa, a translation of the Bhagavad Gita as a poem,[1] and a translation of the tantric hymn Saundarya Lahari, besides an anthropological study of mantra-practice called "Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience Today."[2]
Translations of Rao's poems have been published in Kannada, Latin, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, French, German and Kannada. Rao has had poems published in literary journals including Poetry Magazine, Fulcrum, Wasafiri, Meanjin, Washington Square, West Coast Line, Tinfish, and in anthologies including The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton, 2008), and The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. (Bloodaxe Books, 2008) [3] She was a visiting fellow at the IowaInternational Writing Program in 2005 and 2009,[4] held the 2006 University of Iowa International Programs writer-in-residence K-12 fellowship, and writing residencies at Omi Ledig House in 2018[5] and International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI) Canberra in 2019.[6] She was a co-founder of OutLoud, a regular poetry-reading gathering in Hong Kong,[7] and contributed a poetry segment to RTHK Radio 4.[3]
She performed at literary festivals in India including the Jaipur Literature Festival , Bangalore Literature Festival, Hindu Lit for Life and Apeejay Kolkata Literature Festival, and at International literature festivals in Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, Vancouver, Chicago, Canberra and New York PEN World Voices.[8][3]
Rao worked in advertising and television from 1985 to 2004 in Chennai, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Auckland.[3] In Hong Kong, Rao worked for Star (TV) Group Ltd for 9 years, and was the Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Corporate Communications.[9] She spearheaded the 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' marketing campaign (Who Wants to be a Millionaire).[10] She has an MFA from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University.
Select reviewsedit
(On Saundarya Lahari) ‘Mani Rao’s translations have a hard-won simplicity and ripeness. This joyful rendition of an iconic text will offer its share of literary delight, as well as a key to a deeper alchemy. These translations with their ease and lightness of touch will resonate with lovers of poetry as well as travellers on the path of the Divine Feminine."- Arundhathi Subramaniam.[11]
From Listing in The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry, (Eds. Ian Hamilton & Jeremy Noel-Tod. Oxford University Press, 2013. 2nd Edition): "Rao's version of the Bhagavad Gita (Autumn Hill / Penguin, 2010 / 2011) unpacks the original Sanskrit with a range of avant garde techniques—with regards to prosody, diction, mise-en-page and lineation—rendering a new translation of the well-known philosophical text unlike any before it."
“The great virtue of The Bhagavad Gita is courage, and in her luminous new translation, Rao is courageous indeed. Her lines venture to keep pace with the original, stride for stride, revelation for revelation. As Wittgenstein wrote, 'courage is always original." I can avow that Rao's is the first truly original version of this sacred text to appear in decades." – Donald Revell
“Mani Rao has transformed the most famous spiritual poem in India to a multi-layered poem, giving shapes to multiple meanings and sounds to multiple forms. Just as Arjuna saw the universe in Krishna's mouth and like the endless tree, the tree of life, which reveals its roots above and leaves below, Mani Rao has shown us this universe, this endless life with its supporting philosophy, as a poem to be perceived directly, intuitively, cutting through reason and linearity to arrive at the underlying undying poetry and grace of this epic work."– Frederick Smith
"Here is a poet who works by daring – daring herself and the reader – to let go. She works in the dark with wit and knife and punch and paper scissors. She cuts and pastes, leaves gaping holes. Her work is a black masque in which parts of speech change parts, and all have the rightness of electronic rain. In the best poems you hear and feel and watch a current – which straight prose insulates as meaning–go crackling from naked line to line, making the unrepeatable pattern that is momentary sense. It's like watching lightning fork. Mani Rao has a strong bleak voice. It's the voice of the voyager: it discommodes, rattles you, shakes you down. Her poetry is sleepless and unwinking. You go to it for debriefing, for the jolt you expect from good writing. And you go back — or she pursues you. She is the hawker you thought you shook off in the square, she is your mechanic come home to spend the night. Let her in: you’ll live to regret it, but at least you’ll live." – Allan Sealy
Bibliographyedit
Books and Chapbooks
Saundarya Lahari (HarperCollins, 2022).
Love Me in a Hurry/"Bega Preethsu Nanna" bilingual with Kannada translation by Prathibha Nandakumar (Atta Galatta, Bangalore, 2022).
Sing to Me (Recent Work Press, 2019).
Living Mantra – Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience Today (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Bhagavad Gita (Fingerprint, 2015). (This edition includes a translation of Ishavasyopanishad).
New & Selected Poems (Poetrywala, India, 2014).
Echolocation (Math Paper Press, Singapore, 2014).
Kalidasa for the 21st Century Reader (Aleph Book Co. 2014)
Bhagavad Gita – A translation of the poem," (Autumn Hill Books, 2010) (Penguin India, 2011).
Lorine Niedecker Condens.” Interim (Vol.28 No.1 & 2, 2010 and Vol 29 issue 3, 2012). Using only Niedecker’s words, a poem-essay of her poetic principles.
^"Mani RAO | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^"Past Residents". artomi.org. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^"Katarina"] ["Slavich" (16 October 2019). "Reaching for the moon: UC's Poetry on the Move Festival draws big names". www.canberra.edu.au. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^"Stanza and deliver". South China Morning Post. 8 March 2004. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^. Archived from the original on 11 July 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
^indiantelevision.com (12 April 2004). "Three senior executives exit Star Group".
^V. Shankar Nayar Anupama Chopra (30 November 1999). "Kaun Banega Crorepati mesmerises people as STAR TV bets Rs 75 crore on Amitabh Bachchan". India Today. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^harperbroadcast (2 September 2022). "HarperCollins is proud to announce Saundarya Laharī, Wave of Beauty,Translated from the Sanskrit by Mani Rao". HarperCollins Publishers India. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
External linksedit
Interview in POV by Usha Akella (2020). "The Power of Mantra."
Interview by PTI (24 Feb 2019). "Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times."
Interview in Scroll (7 Oct 2018) by Rohini Kejriwal. "It's how they roll on your tongue that matters..."
Interview in DNA India (20 Oct 2015) by Latha Srinivasan.
Interview in Kitaab by Zafar Anjum (2 Nov 2014). “Poetry for me is an intense form of writing."
Interview in South China Morning Post (30 May 2010) by Mark Footer. "My Life."
Transcript of conversation on poetry and translations with Prof. Dr. Akshaya Kumar of Panjab University on Sep 28th, 2022. Published in Dialog, No.40 (Autumn 2022) 333-353. Link here to Academia page for this article.
Conversation on early poetry and translations with Souradeep Roy, May 2021 in Cordite.
Review of "Sing to Me" in Business Standard News (16 Nov 2019) by Uttaran Das Gupta. "Myths and Modernity."
Review of "New and Selected Poems" in Indian Literature by Rati Agnihotri. "Three-Dimensional Poetry." Vol. 61, No. 1 (297), 21st Century Indian Poetry in English (January/February 2017), pp. 206-209.
Review of "Bhagavad Gita" in Asymptote by Eric M Gurevitch
Review of "Ghostmasters" in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal by Reid Mitchell. "Learning to Hear Mani Rao."
Review of "Ghostmasters" in Mascara Literary Review (1 Jan 2011) by Amos Toh.
Review of "echolocation" in QLRS (Vol. 3 No. 4 Jul 2004) by Cyril Wong. "Locating Logos."
Poem "My Old Woman" in Poetry Magazine (July/August 2019).
"Poem, Sisyphus" in Omniverse.
Poems from "Ghostmasters" in Almost Island (Monsoon 2009).
Poems from "echolocation" in Softblow
Excerpts from translation of Kalidasa's Meghadutam in Poetry at Sangam
Conversation with Devdutt Pattanaik at Bangalore Literature Festival (3 Feb 2016)
Conversation with Chitra Mahesh at Hindu Lit for Life 2019 about Mani Rao's book Living Mantra.
Conversation with Lata Mani at Atta Galatta about Mani Rao's Bhagavad Gita translation 2015
Poets & Writers > Directory of Writers > Mani Rao
Author's page on Facebook for literary updates https://www.facebook.com/maniraopoem/
Author's Twitter handler
October 28, 2023
mani, born, february, 1965, indian, poet, independent, scholar, writing, english, contents, biography, select, reviews, bibliography, references, external, linksbiography, edit, authored, twelve, poetry, collections, three, books, translation, from, sanskrit, . Mani Rao born 28 February 1965 is an Indian poet and independent scholar writing in English Contents 1 Biography 2 Select reviews 3 Bibliography 4 References 5 External linksBiography editMani Rao has authored twelve poetry collections and three books in translation from Sanskrit including the works of Kalidasa a translation of the Bhagavad Gita as a poem 1 and a translation of the tantric hymn Saundarya Lahari besides an anthropological study of mantra practice called Living Mantra Mantra Deity and Visionary Experience Today 2 Translations of Rao s poems have been published in Kannada Latin Italian Korean Chinese Arabic French German and Kannada Rao has had poems published in literary journals including Poetry Magazine Fulcrum Wasafiri Meanjin Washington Square West Coast Line Tinfish and in anthologies including The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem Language for a New Century Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East Asia and Beyond W W Norton 2008 and The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets Bloodaxe Books 2008 3 She was a visiting fellow at the Iowa International Writing Program in 2005 and 2009 4 held the 2006 University of Iowa International Programs writer in residence K 12 fellowship and writing residencies at Omi Ledig House in 2018 5 and International Poetry Studies Institute IPSI Canberra in 2019 6 She was a co founder of OutLoud a regular poetry reading gathering in Hong Kong 7 and contributed a poetry segment to RTHK Radio 4 3 She performed at literary festivals in India including the Jaipur Literature Festival Bangalore Literature Festival Hindu Lit for Life and Apeejay Kolkata Literature Festival and at International literature festivals in Hong Kong Singapore Melbourne Vancouver Chicago Canberra and New York PEN World Voices 8 3 Rao worked in advertising and television from 1985 to 2004 in Chennai Mumbai Hong Kong and Auckland 3 In Hong Kong Rao worked for Star TV Group Ltd for 9 years and was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications 9 She spearheaded the Kaun Banega Crorepati marketing campaign Who Wants to be a Millionaire 10 She has an MFA from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University Select reviews edit On Saundarya Lahari Mani Rao s translations have a hard won simplicity and ripeness This joyful rendition of an iconic text will offer its share of literary delight as well as a key to a deeper alchemy These translations with their ease and lightness of touch will resonate with lovers of poetry as well as travellers on the path of the Divine Feminine Arundhathi Subramaniam 11 From Listing in The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry Eds Ian Hamilton amp Jeremy Noel Tod Oxford University Press 2013 2nd Edition Rao s version of the Bhagavad Gita Autumn Hill Penguin 2010 2011 unpacks the original Sanskrit with a range of avant garde techniques with regards to prosody diction mise en page and lineation rendering a new translation of the well known philosophical text unlike any before it The great virtue of The Bhagavad Gita is courage and in her luminous new translation Rao is courageous indeed Her lines venture to keep pace with the original stride for stride revelation for revelation As Wittgenstein wrote courage is always original I can avow that Rao s is the first truly original version of this sacred text to appear in decades Donald Revell Mani Rao has transformed the most famous spiritual poem in India to a multi layered poem giving shapes to multiple meanings and sounds to multiple forms Just as Arjuna saw the universe in Krishna s mouth and like the endless tree the tree of life which reveals its roots above and leaves below Mani Rao has shown us this universe this endless life with its supporting philosophy as a poem to be perceived directly intuitively cutting through reason and linearity to arrive at the underlying undying poetry and grace of this epic work Frederick Smith Here is a poet who works by daring daring herself and the reader to let go She works in the dark with wit and knife and punch and paper scissors She cuts and pastes leaves gaping holes Her work is a black masque in which parts of speech change parts and all have the rightness of electronic rain In the best poems you hear and feel and watch a current which straight prose insulates as meaning go crackling from naked line to line making the unrepeatable pattern that is momentary sense It s like watching lightning fork Mani Rao has a strong bleak voice It s the voice of the voyager it discommodes rattles you shakes you down Her poetry is sleepless and unwinking You go to it for debriefing for the jolt you expect from good writing And you go back or she pursues you She is the hawker you thought you shook off in the square she is your mechanic come home to spend the night Let her in you ll live to regret it but at least you ll live Allan SealyBibliography editBooks and Chapbooks Saundarya Lahari HarperCollins 2022 Love Me in a Hurry Bega Preethsu Nanna bilingual with Kannada translation by Prathibha Nandakumar Atta Galatta Bangalore 2022 Sing to Me Recent Work Press 2019 Living Mantra Mantra Deity and Visionary Experience Today Palgrave Macmillan 2019 Bhagavad Gita Fingerprint 2015 This edition includes a translation of Ishavasyopanishad New amp Selected Poems Poetrywala India 2014 Echolocation Math Paper Press Singapore 2014 Kalidasa for the 21st Century Reader Aleph Book Co 2014 Bhagavad Gita A translation of the poem Autumn Hill Books 2010 Penguin India 2011 Ghostmasters Hong Kong Chameleon Press 2010 3 Mani Rao 100 Poems 1985 2005 Hong Kong Chameleon Press 2006 3 Echolocation Hong Kong Chameleon Press 2003 Salt Hong Kong Asia 2000 The Last Beach Bilingual with Chinese translation Trans Huang Chan Lan Hong Kong Asia 2000 1999 Living Shadows Bilingual with Chinese translation Trans Huang Chan Lan Drawings Mani Rao Hong Kong HK Arts Development Council 1997 Catapult Season Calcutta Writers Workshop 1993 Wing Span Calcutta Writers Workshop 1987 Essays Decoding Augustine via Saussure In Between Journal of Literary Criticism Sep 2009 131 139 Repetitiveness in Gita translations eXchanges Winter 2009 Caterpillar to Butterfly Thoreau s dietary journey Thoreau Society Bulletin Issue 270 2010 Reading the Rigveda Indian Literature Issue 262 Vol LV No 2 March April 2011 Automatic Writing Real Surreal Indeterminate Fulcrum Issue 7 2011 Lorine Niedecker Condens Interim Vol 28 No 1 amp 2 2010 and Vol 29 issue 3 2012 Using only Niedecker s words a poem essay of her poetic principles Review of Arvind K Mehrotra s Songs of Kabir Translation Review Vol 83 2012 A Brief History of the Bhagavad Gita s Canonization Religion Compass Nov 2013 Preface to Autobiography of a Goddess Andal a translation by Priya Sarukkai Chabbria and Ravi Shankar New Delhi Zubaan Books 2016 Up Down Up Review of Availalable Light by C P Surendran Scroll 11 Nov 2017 Experience of Srividya at Devipuram Religions 2019 10 14 doi 10 3390 rel10010014 The Conjuring of Atman in Gita translations Osmania Journal of English Studies 2019 References edit Autumn Hill Books Website Archived 26 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine Rao Mani 2019 Living Mantra Mantra Deity and Visionary Experience Today Contemporary Anthropology of Religion Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978 3 319 96390 7 a b c d e f Mani Rao s Official Website Mani RAO The International Writing Program iwp uiowa edu Retrieved 12 April 2021 Past Residents artomi org Retrieved 12 April 2021 Katarina Slavich 16 October 2019 Reaching for the moon UC s Poetry on the Move Festival draws big names www canberra edu au Retrieved 12 April 2021 Stanza and deliver South China Morning Post 8 March 2004 Retrieved 12 April 2021 PEN World Voices gt 2006 Festival Mani Rao Archived from the original on 11 July 2010 Retrieved 2 September 2009 indiantelevision com 12 April 2004 Three senior executives exit Star Group V Shankar Nayar Anupama Chopra 30 November 1999 Kaun Banega Crorepati mesmerises people as STAR TV bets Rs 75 crore on Amitabh Bachchan India Today Retrieved 12 April 2021 harperbroadcast 2 September 2022 HarperCollins is proud to announce Saundarya Lahari Wave of Beauty Translated from the Sanskrit by Mani Rao HarperCollins Publishers India Retrieved 7 October 2022 External links editInterview in POV by Usha Akella 2020 The Power of Mantra Interview by PTI 24 Feb 2019 Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times Interview in Scroll 7 Oct 2018 by Rohini Kejriwal It s how they roll on your tongue that matters Interview in DNA India 20 Oct 2015 by Latha Srinivasan Interview in Kitaab by Zafar Anjum 2 Nov 2014 Poetry for me is an intense form of writing Interview in South China Morning Post 30 May 2010 by Mark Footer My Life Transcript of conversation on poetry and translations with Prof Dr Akshaya Kumar of Panjab University on Sep 28th 2022 Published in Dialog No 40 Autumn 2022 333 353 Link here to Academia page for this article Conversation on early poetry and translations with Souradeep Roy May 2021 in Cordite Review of Sing to Me in Business Standard News 16 Nov 2019 by Uttaran Das Gupta Myths and Modernity Review of New and Selected Poems in Indian Literature by Rati Agnihotri Three Dimensional Poetry Vol 61 No 1 297 21st Century Indian Poetry in English January February 2017 pp 206 209 Review of Bhagavad Gita in Asymptote by Eric M Gurevitch Review of Ghostmasters in Cha An Asian Literary Journal by Reid Mitchell Learning to Hear Mani Rao Review of Ghostmasters in Mascara Literary Review 1 Jan 2011 by Amos Toh Review of echolocation in QLRS Vol 3 No 4 Jul 2004 by Cyril Wong Locating Logos Poem My Old Woman in Poetry Magazine July August 2019 Poem Sisyphus in Omniverse Poems from Ghostmasters in Almost Island Monsoon 2009 Poems from echolocation in Softblow Excerpts from translation of Bhagavad Gita in eXchanges Journal of Literary Translation Exocity Winter 2009 Excerpts from translation of Kalidasa s Ritusamharam in Almost Island Excerpts from translation of Kalidasa s Meghadutam in Poetry at Sangam Conversation with Devdutt Pattanaik at Bangalore Literature Festival 3 Feb 2016 Conversation with Chitra Mahesh at Hindu Lit for Life 2019 about Mani Rao s book Living Mantra Conversation with Lata Mani at Atta Galatta about Mani Rao s Bhagavad Gita translation 2015 Poets amp Writers gt Directory of Writers gt Mani Rao Author s page on Facebook for literary updates https www facebook com maniraopoem Author s Twitter handler Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mani Rao amp oldid 1147223063, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
