Rome: The Alphabets of Latin America, a collection of poems penned by Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K., which paints a poetic portrait of Latin America, has been translated and published into Italian. The book has been translated into Italian by a noted Italian translator Angela D’Ambra and published by the Rome based publisher Edizioni Efesto. The book has 108 poems on various places, monuments, personalities, flora and fauna, festivals, cuisine, landscapes, mythologies of Latin America, arranged in alphabetical order from A-Z.
Forrest Gander, Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, writes about the book —“The Alphabets of Latin America is welcomingly strong. Abhay K. has a great sense of lineation, of understatement, of memorable, very particular images, and of manuscript structure. I also am moved by the way he can subtly use the elements of a place—the dream vision of Tenochtitlan (which was founded on a dream-vision) or the Borgesian paradox of looking for Borges and finding mirror reflections of the self. I love the way this abecedarian works and shifts between short and longer poems, refreshing our rhythms constantly. Also, it’s such a personal pleasure for me to re-see so many places that I know, through his eyes. It is a very original and thrilling book—a book that opens the borders of time and place, which is what seems so necessary now in this epoch of nationalist entrenchment and paranoia.”
Latin American poet Víctor Rodríguez Núñez writes— “Latin Americans must be grateful, today and always, for the Indian poet Abhay K. and this fundamental book. Armed with intelligence and sensitivity, with calculation and passion, The Alphabets of Latin America is a love poem that honors us as a society and culture.”
The Italian edition of the book carries a foreword by Italian author David Tozzo.
Bihar born Abhay K. is the author of ten poetry collections, most recently of The Magic of Madagascar, and the editor of The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, CAPITALS, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems and New Brazilian Poems. His poems have been published in several literary journals including Poetry Salzburg Review and Asian Literary Review. His ‘Earth Anthem’ has been translated into over 120 languages. He has received SAARC Literary Award 2013 and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 2018. His forthcoming book length poem is titled Monsoon.
– global bihari bureau
We Bihari are proud of him God bless👏 him to achieve further height