Afshan D'souza-Lodhi's debut poetry collection 're: desire' explores the yearning to love, be loved and belong from a desi (South Asian) perspective. Her work sits on the intersections of flash fiction, poetry and script, echoing the hybridity of the worlds that many young British desis find themselves occupying. Drawing on the poetry of many different languages and cultures - Urdu, English, Konkani, Islamic and Christian - this collection explores how we access our traditions from a distance. 're: desire' is a collection of poetry that draws upon literary traditions and cultural references to flip the male gaze common in mushairas on its head. Common themes for mushairas are love, God and being drunk or intoxicated by love and God - but is usually seen from a male perspective. The pieces in re: desire are mainly told from a female perspective, and question the gender given to particular acts, objects and ideas.
Afshan D'souza-Lodhi is the Editor-in-Chief of The Common Sense Network. She is an award-winning writer of plays and poetry and was recently commissioned to write and direct a short film for Channel 4 and a radio play for BBC Sounds. She has completed residencies at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester Literature Festival and has worked with Eclipse Theatre, Tamasha Theatre Company and Paul Burston's Polari. Afshan has edited many anthologies and has an essay featured in Its Not About The Burqa (Picador, 2019). She has recently forayed into the world of filmmaking and was commissioned by Random Acts North to write and direct a short film for Channel 4. As well as her own writing, Afshan is keen to develop other younger and emerging artists and sits on the boards of Manchester Literature Festival and Brighter Sound.
Title: re: desire
Author: Afshan D'souza-Lodhi
ISBN: 9781911570851
Binding:
Publisher: Burning Eye Books
Publication Date: 2020-06-25
Number of Pages: 100
Weight: 0.1200 kg
'A beautiful and poignant collection that speaks to the internal lives of British people of colour.' - Nikesh Shukla (author of The Good Immigrant and The One Who Wrote Destiny)