Sharanya Manivannan

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Jan16

A Poem In Barely South Review

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Sharanya Manivannan

A poem, “Hanuman“, in Barely South Review.

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Filed under Uncategorized and tagged "Bulletproof Offering", barely south review, hanuman, poem, poetry, Sita | 2 Comments

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Mamma Mia! Me a Mamma?!? on January 17, 2012 at 11:06 pm said:

Tremendously powerful! And of course, beautiful too…
Sharanya Manivannan on January 18, 2012 at 12:07 pm said:

Thank you, Mamma.

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Sharanya Manivannan

I’m the author of five books: a novel, The Queen of Jasmine Country (HarperCollins India, 2018), a short story collection, The High Priestess Never Marries (HarperCollins India, 2016), two books of poetry, Witchcraft (Bullfighter Books, 2008) and The Altar of the Only World (HarperCollins India, 2017); and a picture book for children, The Ammuchi Puchi (Lantana Publishing, 2016 & Puffin India, 2018).

My column, “The Venus Flytrap”, appears in The New Indian Express. I was specially commissioned to write and perform an original poem at the Commonwealth Day Observance at Westminister Abbey in 2015. I’m currently working on a novel, Constellation of Scars, among other poetry, fiction and illustration projects. I was born in India in 1985, and grew up in Sri Lanka and Malaysia; I have been living in Chennai since 2007.

On this blog you’ll find links to my writing, unedited versions of my work that appears in newspapers and magazines… and nowhere near as much chaos, miscellany and whimsy as life actually contains. :) You can find some of that, though, on my Instagram. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

(Photo: Anjan Kumar)

Contact

sharanya(.)manivannan(@)gmail(.)com

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So lovely to see @monica.mody after so many years - here's to more long lunches and leafy streets, in the hopefully nearer distance! 🌿 . . . . . . #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #poetsofinstagram #womenwhowrite #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #igerschennai #igersindia #MonicaMody

At least there's still... . . . . . . . #wallart #foundart #writingsonthewall #artanddesign #prettygraffiti #bonappetit #igerschennai #igersindia

If only. . . . . . . . . #foundart #wallart #writingsonthewall #fonts #oohlala #prettygraffiti #igerschennai #igersindia

It's so strange how these things unlock. I spent the last few days with a much younger cousin who was estranged from me for over a decade due to adult disapproval of choices I made as a young adult. That itself opened wide a canyon of reckoning -- he had been deeply attached to me as a child, and I had to make peace before meeting him again with the knowledge that he would have very little memory of me (whereas I had memories of us both - and for me these had to do with my last few years in Malaysia, the country I lived in most of my life, and lost). An acute longing resurfaced in me, spending time with him. Then tonight, a little after he left, I happened to see a video about a new Australian-Lankan theatre play ("Counting And Cracking"), and the parts about how the playwright's mother would never ever speak about the place she'd lost were familiar to me (she eventually found catharsis through his work). My own parents will not speak about what they experienced during the 1983 riots. In one memorable conversation in which I grilled my mother on the topic, she responded to every one of my questions with intricate details on how potatoes grew in the garden in Nuwara Eliya which she left behind; the other memories are within a locked box. I was thinking of this familiar motif - of other people's silences - when something completely unexpected imploded. The fact of my own, unwillful silence. I realised (for the first time, or again, it's difficult to say given the nature of this elision) that I hold a locked box of my own, and have held it for a long time now, and I understand how that happens. It seals like an unhealed piercing. I too am among those who cannot and so do not speak of *where* I have lost. Instead, in my case, I reach constantly for an earlier loss, Sri Lanka, and have truly recalibrated my relationship with that one. But in the midst of everything are 17 unaccounted years - half my life - for which I do not know the words. And maybe never will. . . . . . . . . #diaspora #exile #SriLanka #Malaysia #loss #longing #home #heartlands #family #silences #words #theatre #writing #healing #stories #flowersofig #plantsofig

Thank you - I'm so glad you liked my book ☀️ #Repost @strictlybookworms with @kimcy929_repost • • • • • • #bookreview The Queen of Jasmine Country by Shranya Manivannan I always wonder how writers are gifted with such power of imagination to create stories so beautifully and express the emotions of a common man so extraordinarily? How do they possess powers to make the flaws look so attractive? How do they write stories that are so beautifully interwoven with each other like that of a Garland? . . These were one of the few thoughts that kept running in my mind while I was reading this book. This book is my first book by the author Sharanya Mannivannan. The book is about love and loneliness and has a historical perspective on it. This is a reimagination of 9th century poet Andal. Kodhai (Andal) who was found by Vishnuchittan in a basil grove, who then brought her up and eventually married her away to the Lord himself. I loved this book! It has a rich narrative with merely 150 pages and it wins my heart like no other. The writing style is spectacular. I loved how Kodhai is seen as a common girl which makes the reader connect to her easily. As we see through her eyes we feel what she felt; her loneliness, her desires and most importantly, how she becomes what she became. . . The time and age the book is based on are ancient yet universal. It seems so similar to the time of our own. At times, it reminded me a little of Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize-winning novel with it's writing style which is a good thing. If you've just started reading books you might find this difficult to read. If you've read some of the heavy literature books then you must have this 'dream' debut book of the author's in your collection. 4.5/5 stars #thequeenofajasminecountry #booksbooksbooks #bookdragon #unitedbookstagram #ilovebooks #ilovereading #goodreads #awesomereads #epicreads #igreads #keepreading #bookstagram #bookstagraminsta #bookish #review #readerscommunity #fivestarreads #bookcommunity #booklover #followforfollowback #likesforlikesback #bookphotography

Thank you so much! ☀️ Reposted from @srilata_k_poetry (@get_regrann) - In her trademark rich and lyrical prose, @sharanya_manivannan imagines a sensuous dreamscape, bringing to life another era in the most contemporary, emotionally real way possible. The Queen of Jasmine Country addresses gender, desire and the strictures of caste and community. All this via Kodhai (Andal), the novel's delightful protagonist who refuses to be bound. - #regrann #TheQueenOfJasmineCountry #bookstagramindia #bookstagram #bookish #readersofig #readwriteunite #wocreads #igersindia #bookish #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity #feministbooks #readwomen #womenwhowrite #bookishlove

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