Ankita Saxena is a British-Indian writer and performer. She is the author of a debut collection of poetry, Mother | Line, which released in April 2023, with Verve Poetry Press – a culmination of over a decade of writing, editing and performing. It has recently featured on Dishoom, The Guilty Feminist, and Desi Blitz.
What do we inherit from our mothers? From our grandmothers? From the legacy of colonisation and empire? Mother | Line charts lineage in all its forms, delving into female rage, compassion, and endurance. Drawing on the author’s British Asian heritage and experiences growing up as a woman in an increasingly violent world, this collection weaves together the personal and the political in ghazals, odes and specular poems, which hold a mirror to the world and to themselves. “We are daughters of Kali”, Saxena writes, and “mothers linger on the sides, hearing us become them; / our routines only theirs to thank for, our spices, / our blends, and even our greedy tongues.”
The book cover design and illustrations are by Peonica Fernando.
Readings and Launch Events
- Reference Point, Tuesday 2nd May
- University of Northampton, Thursday 25th May
- Jesus College, Oxford, Saturday 10th June
Where to buy Mother | Line
Online
- Direct from author (signed copy)
- Verve Poetry Press
- Poetry Book Society
- Blackwell’s
- Waterstones
- WHSmith
- Amazon (UK; kindle edition available)
- Amazon (India; kindle edition available)
- Amazon (US; kindle edition available)
London
- Barnes Bookshop
- Bookmarks Bookshop (Bloomsbury)
- Brick Lane Bookshop
- Foyles (Charing Cross)
- Housmans Bookshop (King’s Cross)
- John Sandoe (Chelsea)
- London Review Bookshop (Bloomsbury)
- Pages of Hackney
- Waterstones (Piccadilly and Victoria)
Edinburgh
- Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh)
- The Lighthouse Bookshop (Edinburgh)
- The Portobello Bookshop (Edinburgh)
- Topping and Company (Bath, Edinburgh, Ely, St Andrews)
- Typewronger (Edinburgh)
Other
- Blackwell’s (Oxford)
- Coles Books (Bicester, Oxfordshire)
- Margate Bookshop (Margate)
- Voce Books (Birmingham)
“A sublime and considered collection, speaking to, and spanning lineage, inheritance, friendship.”
Rachel Long
“A powerhouse of an anthology. Electric verse with a howling feminist soul. Bright. Witty. Poignant. Glorious.”
Deborah Frances-White
Performance and Workshop Facilitation
Ankita is an experienced performer and workshop facilitator. Some recent projects include:
- May 2023: Ankita performed poetry for University of Northampton’s Global Ethnic Majority Staff Network’s Poetic Justice Event to mark George Floyd Day. She read poems about privilege, protest and culture.
- April 2023: Ankita led a 2 hour poetry workshop on sexual violence for a group of 16-20y/o recruited as commissioners for the charity Leaders Unlocked. The workshop helped generate conversations as well as original, provoking poetry from the young people around issues that impact them today. Following the workshop, Ankita pieced the content together into a group poem. This poem will be turned into a film, narrated by the young people, to influence decision makers.
- Feb – March 2023: Ankita led two poetry workshops for a class of 30 Year 4 students at Reay Primary School, as part of author and academic Dr Karina Lickorish Quinn’s research project aiming to prove the value of multi-lingualism in schools. Following these workshops, Dr Karina will be aiming to roll out a national pilot of multi-lingualism creative writing workshops, to help instil confidence, creativity and cultural awareness early in young people’s lives.
- October 2022: Ankita performed poetry live at the Hammersmith Appollo for The Guilty Feminist podcast.
Get in touch below if you’d like to commission Ankita to facilitate any workshops for your organisations. She is particularly interested in hearing from charities that support women, migrants and other minoritised groups.
Published Writing
- Date Night (short story), Brown Girl Mag, April 2023
- Ghazal to my Other Tongues, Bath Magg, August 2021
- Inheritance and Anti-Manifesto, Wasafiri, March 2021
- A Woman is Laughing, Modern Poetry in Translation, November 2020 (featured again on IWD 2023 here)
- Baba Ghanoush, Poetry and Shaah, May 2020
- Ghazal: On Duty, April 2021
- Ode to the Custard Apple, May 2018
- Kajal, May 2018
Interviews / Articles / Podcasts
- Dishoom Loves, May 2023
- 10 Poets for International Women’s Day, March 2023
- 5 British Asian Poets to Look out for in 2023, January 2023
- The Guilty Feminist, October 2022
- Hazel Press, March 2021
- Wordly Women Episode 4, September 2018
- Lines of Resistance, October 2017
- A defence of (contemporary) poetry, Shakespeare’s Globe, July 2018
- Foyle Friday, Poetry Society, July 2018
- Protest Poetry Challenge, Poetry Society, March 2018