Ankita Saxena is a British-Indian poet and playwright from London. She read English at Oxford where she was the Head of Events of Oxford University Poetry Society & President of the Turl Street Arts Festival. She is a former Barbican Young Poet and currently part of the poetry collective Octavia, for womxn of colour poets, led by Rachel Long and based at The Southbank Centre.
Please get in touch via email on: ankitasxa@gmail.com.
Recent Experience:
- Playwriting
- Wrote a short play, ‘Halva’, exploring the impact of Trump’s Iranian travel ban on a couple in New York. This play was on at the second Unfolded event at the Bread and Roses Theatre on 9 & 10 September 2018. The play was directed by Roman Berry and starred Nathan Chatelier and Nina Moniri.
- Wrote a short play, ‘Noida, Sector 78’ for the first night of Unfolded on 19 & 20 June 2018. The play was about domestic workers rights in India. It was directed by Roman Berry and starred Reynah Rita Oppal, Radhika Aggarwal and Amer Patel. The play was staged for a second time for The Scene at Tabard Theatre on 1 August
- Performance
- Performed at the launch event of the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2018 on June 29, 2018
- Was a featured poet in the ‘Sexy Poetry Hour’ at the Awomen festival (celebrating feminism and radical softness) on March 25, 2018
- Engagement
- Gave a talk on Maya Angelou for the Dead [Women] Poets Society on 20 August 2018
- Led a workshop on Sunday 29 July 2018 for the ‘Telling Tales’ festival at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
- Led an evening of workshops themed around the poetry of Meena Kandasamy and the re-telling of Hindu goddess stories for the Wellcome Collection’s Embracing the Goddess event on April 5 2018
- Wrote a poetry challenge for the Young Poets Network on International Women’s Day (8 March, 2018): celebrating universal women’s suffrage & protest poetry
- Commissioned by St Paul’s Cathedral to write a retelling of a part of the advent story for their Alternative Advent series in December 2017
Poems:
- Questions for my Grandmother
- Bidai
- Ode to the Custard Apple
- The Visitation
- Kajal
- Partition (winner of Oxford’s ISIS Magazine, ‘Borders and Bodies’ Competition, 2015)
Podcasts:
- Interview with Worldy Women
Articles:
- Blog post for Shakespeare’s Globe: A Defence of (Contemporary) Poetry
