Author Archive: Sweta Vikram
Sweta Srivastava Vikram is an award-winning poet, writer, novelist, author, essayist, columnist, educator, and blogger. Born in India, Sweta spent her formative years between the steel city of Rourkela, the blue waters of North Africa, the green hills of Mussoorie, and the erudite air of Pune before arriving in bustling New York. Growing up between three continents, six cities, five schools, and three masters degrees, what remained constant in Sweta’s life was her relationship with words.Today, Sweta is the author of three chapbooks of poetry, Because All Is Not Lost (Modern History Press, 2010), Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors (Modern History Press, 2010), and Beyond the Scent of Sorrow (Modern History Press, 2011). While Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors was nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2010) and Asian American Members’ Choice Awards (2011), Beyond the Scent of Sorrow was nominated for the Independent Literary Awards(2011). Sweta's books are the highest selling poetry books from Modern History Press.
Writing Well, Thanks to Mom
There was always a distance between my mother and my writing. For the longest time, she rarely read what I wrote. It bothered me a lot. And I often drowned in bitterness about it. When on Friday, May 30, 2014, I was invited to do one of my biggest literary readings in NYC at KGB […]
Finding Myself At A Writing Residency
It’s a warm day in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard where I am attending a two-week writing residency at Noepe Literary Arts Center. It’s an intelligent and generous group of writers and visual artists, and I am grateful to be around them in this creative space sharing disappointments and contentment. We share a bond that most people […]
The Impact of Yoga on Writing
Wet Silence was a book I wrote before I lost my mother or did a yoga teacher training. Wet Silence was a book I wrote at a time when I would show up to yoga classes during times when I needed clarity with my writing, career, or life in general. But, my world shook and changed after my […]
When a “spicy” Indian storyteller goes looking for inspiration…
Earlier this year, my writer friend, Leah Zibulsky, invited me to one of her creative nonfiction readings on the lower east side. There were four, smart, sassy storytellers presenting that evening. As I heard Leah and her comrades share their dating stories at Dixon Place in NYC, I whispered to the woman on my left, […]
The Gatekeeper
On the morning of Friday, May 30, my husband and I got a call from India: my mother was in critical condition and hospitalized in New Delhi. I thought it was a bad joke because (a) My Mom wasn’t sick. I had barely spoken with Mom two days ago and promised to cook, Kalam Polow, a […]
A Writer’s Confession
The wise say that inspiration strikes at the oddest of hours and in the most unexpected of places. They are right. Inspiration can be found in our dreams, in a cup of tea, in conversations, in public transport, or even in the middle of a natural disaster. And when you find that muse, there is […]
Why Multi-Genre Writing Rocks!
During the week of June 14-17, I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to attend the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference. It is a program that offers the opportunity for people to meet fellow writers and learn from some of the best in the field, and I was ecstatic. But a dear friend, who is privy […]
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