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Bhanu Kapil

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Bhanu Khapil
Khapil speaking at an event at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania
Born1968 (age 55–56)
Occupationwriter
AwardsT. S. Eliot Prize (2020)

Bhanu Kapil (born 1968)[1] is a British-born poet and author of Indian descent. She is best known for her books The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (2001), Incubation: A Space for Monsters (2006), and Ban en Banlieue (2015).

In 2020, Kapil won one of eight Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes.[2]

Personal life and education

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Kapil was born in 1968[1] outside of London[3] to Indian parents.[4] In 1990, she moved to the United States,[4] then returned to England in 2019.[3] She presently spends her time in both the United Kingdom and the United States.[1]

Kapil received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loughborough University and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the State University of New York Brockport.[4]

Career

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Kapil's first book, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, was written in the late 1990s.[5] She has cited Salman Rushdie's 1980 Booker Prize win as a formative experience for her, saying "Perhaps then, for the first time, I understood that someone like me: could. Could look like me and write."[6] In early 2015, The Believer held a round-table discussion of her work over the course of three days.[7]

2009's Humanimal: A Project for Future Children took its inspiration from the nonfiction account of Amala and Kamala, two girls found "living with wolves in colonial Bengal."[8] Douglas A. Martin has described Incubation: A Space For Monsters as "a feminist, post-colonial On the Road."[9] Kapil also contributed the introduction to Amina Cain's short story collection I Go To Some Hollow.[10] Her public readings have elements of performance art.[11] Her poetry appeared in a collection edited by Brian Droitcour that was produced as part of the New Museum's 2015 Triennial.[12]

Aside from writing, Kapil has taught at Naropa University,[3] as well as in Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts program.[1] She has also contributed and co-taught in the Master's in Leadership for Sustainability program at the University of Vermont.[13]

In 2019, Kapil received a year-long fellowship at the University of Cambridge; after the fellowship, she remained as an artist by-fellow at Churchill College.[3] In 2022, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[13]

Awards and honours

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Incubation: A Space for Monsters was a Small Press Distribution best-seller.[14] Ban en Banlieue was named one of Time Out New York's most anticipated books of early 2015.[15]

In 2019, Kapil received the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellowship from the University of Cambridge.[16]

In March 2020 Kapil was awarded one of eight Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes.[2] In January 2021, she was awarded the 2020 T. S Eliot Poetry Prize for How to Wash a Heart.[17][3] She has also received the Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors.[16]

Publications

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Books

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  • The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, Kelsey Street Press, 2001, ISBN 9780932716569
  • Incubation: A Space for Monsters, Leon Works, 2006, ISBN 9780976582021
  • Humanimal: A Project for Future Children, Kelsey Street Press, 2009, ISBN 9780932716705
  • Schizophrene, Nightboat Books, 2011, ISBN 9780984459865
  • Ban en Banlieue, Nightboat Books, 2015, ISBN 9781937658243
  • entre-Ban, Vallum, 2017, ISBN 9780995324824
  • How to Wash a Heart, Liverpool University Press, 2020, ISBN 9781789621686

Chapbooks

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  • Autobiography of a Cyborg, Leroy, 2000.
  • Water Damage: A Map of Three Black Days, Corollary Press, 2008.
  • Treinte Ban: A psychiatric handbook to accompany a work undone, New Herring Press, 2014.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Bhanu Kapil". Poetry Foundation. 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b Flood, Alison (19 March 2020). "Eight authors share $1m prize as writers face coronavirus uncertainty". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Parmar, Sandeep (17 February 2021). "TS Eliot winner Bhanu Kapil: 'It's hard to study something by standing in front of it'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "About Bhanu Kapil". Academy of American Poets. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  5. ^ Sanders, Katherine (22 September 2011). "Bhanu Kapil". BOMB Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  6. ^ Saifi, Rowland (18 April 2012). "Unfold is the wrong word: An Interview with Bhanu Kapil". HTML Giant. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Reading Bhanu Kapil: Day 1: In Conversation". The Believer. 18 February 2015. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  8. ^ Luczajko, Stephanie. "An Interview with Bhanu Kapil". Tinge Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Reading Bhanu Kapil". The Believer. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015.
  10. ^ "I Go To Some Hollow". Les Figues Press. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Reading Bhanu Kapil: Day 3: Collectively Reading Bhanu Kapil's Ban en Banlieue". The Believer. 19 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015.
  12. ^ "2015 Triennial: Surround Audience". New Museum. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Bhanu Kapil". Master's in Leadership for Sustainability (MS) | UVM Rubenstein School. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  14. ^ Garner, Dwight (20 July 2008). "Inside the List". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  15. ^ Gilbert, Tiffany (28 December 2015). "The Most Anticipated Books of Early 2015". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Bhanu Kapil". Faculty of English | University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  17. ^ Flood, Alison (24 January 2021). "Bhanu Kapil wins TS Eliot poetry prize for 'radical' How to Wash a Heart". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
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