Coronet Inside Out: Tishani Doshi
For Coronet Inside Out poet, novelist and dancer Tishani Doshi recorded these poems from Kodaikanal, a hill station in Tamil Nadu, from her fourth collection, A God at the Door, published by Bloodaxe Books on 22 April 2021. She says:
‘The Coronet Theatre is one of my favourite theatres in London. What I love about the Coronet is its sense of intimacy and other-worldliness. When you pass through the doors — whether it’s into the bar or to the theatre, there’s a sense of crossing over a threshold and entering into a different space – where you are connected with strangers, where transformations can happen. Most of the poems in my fourth collection, A God at the Door (Bloodaxe), have to do with this idea of connection and intimacy. For me the two touchstones are language and the body, the idea that any pilgrimage must lead back to ourselves, our bodies, but that we are in this together. Poems are bridges, they can connect our personal losses to public grief, they can also offer glimpses of beauty, humour & hope.’ – Tishani Doshi
‘…everywhere these poems are caustic and comic in turn, “unbelted, unbuttoned”, shimmering and bright. Though “hope is a booby trap” in the war-ravaged landscapes, it is nevertheless offered up and renewed throughout this stunning and ambitious collection’ – The Guardian
A God at the Door is available now from good bookshops or online here.
Click here to see the other work available to watch for free on Coronet Inside Out.
Tishani Doshi
Tishani Doshi is a Welsh-Gujarati poet, novelist and dancer. She has published seven books of fiction and poetry, the most recent of which are Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Poetry Award and a Firecracker Award, and a novel, Small Days and Nights, shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Tata Best Fiction Award, and a New York Times Bestsellers Editor’s Choice. She has interviewed over a hundred writers about the craft of writing, publishes essays in The Hindu, Granta, The National, The New York Times, The Guardian, Lithub and Corriere della Sera. She is a visiting associate professor at New York University Abu Dhabi, and otherwise, lives on a beach in Tamil Nadu, India. A God at the Door, published by Bloodaxe Books, is her fourth and latest collection of poems.