Yuyutsu Sharma, Rhony Bhopla, Nancy Aidé Gonzalez, Tim Kahl, and Penny Kline
Yuyutsu Sharma is a widely traveled Nepali/Indian writer who has read his works at several prestigious places in the world. He is a distinguished poet and translator. He moved to Nepal at an early age and now writes in English and Nepali. Half the year, he travels and reads all over the world to read from his works and conducts creative writing workshop at various universities in the United States and Europe but goes trekking in the Himalayas when back home.
He is the recipient of fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia, The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, Yuyutsu RD Sharma He received his early education first DAV college, Nakodar, Punjab, and then Baring Union Christan College, Batala, where he received his Master’s Degree in English Literature. Later he received his M. Phil at the University of Rajasthan where he met American poet David Ray who encouraged him to write and publish poetry.
He has published eight poetry collections including, Space Cake, Amsterdam, & Other Poems from Europe and America, (Howling Dog Press, Colorado, 2009), Annapurna Poems, (Nirala, New Delhi 2008), Everest Failures (White Lotus Book Shop, Kathmandu, 2008), Way To Everest: A photographic and Poetic Journey to the Foot of Everest, (Epsilonmedia, Germany, 2006) with German photographer Andreas Stimm and a translation of Irish poet Cathal O’ Searcaigh poetry in Nepali in a bilingual collection entitled, Kathmandu: Poems, Selected and New, 2006.
He has translated and edited several anthologies of contemporary Nepali poetry in English and along with Shailendra Sakar launched a literary movement, Kathyakayakalp (“content metamorphosis”), in Nepali poetry.
A collection of his poems in Slovenian translation, entitled, Jezero Fewa in Konj come out from the Sodobnost International Press, Ljubljana. A collection of his poems in French, entitled Poemes de l’ Himalayas appeared from Harmattan, Paris in 2009. Quite recently, Cosmopoetica, Cordoba, published Yuyutsu’s Poemas De Los Himalayas: Bilingual Spanish/English Poetry Collection, translated into Spanish with an Introduction by Spanish poet, Veronica Aranda.
Yuyutsu’s own work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Spanish and Dutch. Currently, he edits Pratik, A Magazine of Contemporary Writing and contributes literary columns to Nepal’s leading daily, The Himalayan Times.
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Rhony Bhopla has been writing poetry since the age of 13. When first given a typewriter, she was inspired to type erotic poetry to increase her speed. Given that she was from a conservative East-Indian family, that practice was soon stopped. As an adult she continued to explore the genre. As an immigrant to the United States, she has been an advocate of exalting, splitting, collaborating, promoting, and eroticizing poetry that subjugates the reader to a multilingual voice, always trapped by the confines of her concrete abilities. Rhony is trying to set her imagination free. She’s recently been published in Medusa’s Kitchen.
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Tim Kahl is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009) and The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012). His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, Notre Dame Review, The Journal, Parthenon West Review, and many other journals. He appears as “Victor Schnickelfritz” at the poetry and poetics blog The Great American Pinup and the poetry video blog Linebreak Studios. Tim’s involved in numerous other creative ventures: if you’re curious click, here http://www.timkahl.com. He is Vice-president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Center, and has appeared several times at Stories on Stage.
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Penny Kline is an accomplished actress and poet who lives in Sacramento, CA. She is part of the Sacramento Poetry Center board.
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Nancy Aidé González is a Chicana poet, educator, and activist. Her work has appeared in Huizache The magazine of Latino literature, La Tolteca, Mujeres De Maiz Zine, DoveTales, Tule Review, Seeds of Resistance Flor y Canto: Tortilla Warrior, Hinchas de Poesía, La Bloga, and several other literary journals. Her work is featured in the Sacramento Voices: Foam at the Mouth Anthology, Lowriting:Shots Rides & Stories from the Chicano Soul, and Twenty: In Memoriam. She hosts Mosaic of Voices, a poetry series which features multicultural poets in Sacramento. She is a participating member of Escritores del Nuevo Sol.