Anita Nahal, Ph.D., is a professor, poet, flash fictionist, children's book writer, recent novelist, and very recent short film maker. Finalist, Tagore Literary Prize, 2023, for her poetry book, Kisses at the espresso bar (Kelsay Books, 2022), and nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize (2022, 2023), Anita won the Nissim Prize for Excellence in Literature for her poetry-prose novel, drenched thoughts in 2024. Her third poetry collection, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay Books, 2021), is mandatory reading at Utrecht University.
Anita has one novel, four poetry collections, one of flash fiction, four for children, and six edited anthologies published. Anita’s poems have appeared in numerous journals in the US, UK, Asia, and Australia and anthologized in many collections, including The Polaris Trilogy (2024), The Best Asian Poetry (2021-2022), Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English (2021) and in the Twenty Contemporary Indian English Poets, released by India’s Academy of Letters—the Sahitya Akademi (2023).
Recently Anita ventured into short filmmaking on her poems, and her first short, “Clubs my sinful dance muse,” was awarded the Best Super Short Film Award by the Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela (August, 2024). It was also screened at the Alibag and Goa Short Film Festivals, India, 2024.
Anita has worked in higher education, both in teaching and administration, at various universities for over thirty years. She's been a Fulbright scholar and an NEH fellowship awardee among other laurels in her academic career. She teaches at a university in Washington DC.
Anita is the secretary of the Montgomery Chapter, Maryland Writers Association, and former editor of the newsletter, Poetry Society of Virginia. She is also an active member of the Northern Virginia Writers Club and the Poetry Society of Virginia. Anita is the daughter of Sahitya Akademi award-winning Indian novelist and professor, Late Dr. Chaman Nahal, and educationist Late Dr. Sudarshna Nahal.
Find her at:
www.anitanahal.com
Paperback: 94 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (August 9, 2021)
Also available on Kindle
Reviews:
Boloji
BookBuzz
Confluence (August 2021 Issue)
East India Story
FemAsia Magazine
Journal of Expressive Writing
Madhumita Sinha
Megha’s World
Samyukta Journal
Setu Mag
The Pioneer
The Statesman
Awards:
Best Super Short Film at the 2024 Five Continents International Film Festival (Based on poem "Babylon, my sinful dance muse")
2021 Best Poetry Book of the Year: Ars Notoria