Karthika Nair is a poet and dance producer/curator whose work delves into the poetic exploration of identity and culture. Her writing is characterized by its fluid language and vivid imagery, drawing from a rich tapestry of influences. Nair brings a unique international perspective to her poetry and scripts, reflecting her life across diverse cultural landscapes. Her contributions enrich the literary and dance worlds with a fresh and compelling voice.
The collaborative poem by celebrated poets Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Naèir explores the themes of friendship, stillness, and grief over the course of a year. Through their intertwined voices, they reflect on shared experiences and emotions, creating a poignant narrative that captures the complexities of connection and loss.
A dazzling and eloquent reworking of the Mahabharata, one of South Asia's best-loved epics, through nineteen peripheral voices. With daring poetic forms, Karthika Naïr breathes new life into this ancient epic. Karthika Naïr refracts the epic Mahabharata through the voices of nameless soldiers, outcast warriors and handmaidens as well as abducted princesses, tribal queens, and a gender-shifting god. As peripheral figures and silent catalysts take center stage, we get a glimpse of lives and stories buried beneath the dramas of god and nation, heroics and victory - of the lives obscured by myth and history, all too often interchangeable. Until the Lions is a kaleidoscopic, poetic tour de force. It reveals the most intimate threads of desire, greed, and sacrifice in this foundational epic.
Karthika Nair's epic poem 'Until the Lions' is conceived as an echo of its great Sanskrit forerunner,the Mahabharata. It is an echo in which women drive the narrative and are its main characters, a vivid and compelling retelling from a female perspective of many of the stories from one of the world's most venerated books.
Featuring exotic images and empathetic language, this modern day Indian fairy tale teaches children to respect and appreciate nature. The story of the honey hunter beings in Sundarban, a land of eighteen tides and six seasons, where three rivers meet in a huge mangrove forest. At first, everything is peacefulfor the thousands and thousands of honey-bees that live there not far from the Bay of Bengal. They fly from flower to flower, collecct nectar, and supply both people and animals with their sweet, liquid gold. Everyone who lives in Sundarban loves honey, but one most of all: a small, black-haired boy named Shonu. One year, the seasons in Sundarban get mixed up and the region is plagued by powerful cyclones followed by drought and hunger. Shonu becomes so unbelievably hungry that he sneaks into the mangrove forest and breaks the golden rule: he takes honey from the hives even though it is not yet harvest time. Shonu doesn't quite realize that what he has done could get him into deep trouble with the almighty demon tiger...This modern day fairy tale reveals what can happen when someone interferes with nature's rhythm. It teaches children to respect and appreciate the environment. Inspired by Muslim and Hindu myths, author Karthika Nair and Illustrated by Joelle Jolivet have created a compelling narrative style and visual language to tell their tale.