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Raman Mundair (
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
: ਰਮਨ ਮੰਡੈਰ) is a British poet, writer, artist and playwright. She was born in
Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...
, India and moved to live in the UK at the age of five. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, ''A Choreographer's Cartography'' and ''Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves'' – both published by Peepal Tree Press – and ''The Algebra of Freedom'' (a play) published by Aurora Metro Press. She edited ''Incoming – Some Shetland Voices'' – published by Shetland Heritage Publications. Mundair was educated at the
School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...
,
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
, and has performed readings of her work at numerous venues Raman's work has been anthologised and received reviews in publications including ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', ''The Herald'', ''
World Literature Today ''World Literature Today'' is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The stated goal of the magazine is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book revie ...
'' and ''Discovering Scottish''.


Career

In 2013 and 2014 Raman was a Leverhulme Artist in Residence for Shetland Museum and Archives"The Incoming Project"
Shetland Amenity Trust, August 2014.
and one of seven writers from Shetland and Orkney, participating in the University of Edinburgh’s "Writing the North" project. Raman was chosen as one of two British writers to participate in the Word Express, Literature Across Frontiers project. Word Express took 20 young writers from 12 European countries by train through South-East Europe to Turkey, where they took part in readings and literary events in every country they passed through and then took part in the Istanbul Tanpinar Literature Festival and the Istanbul Book Fair). In 2008 Mundair was nominated for the
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name o ...
. In 2008 Mundair won a Robert Louis Stevenson Award and became a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellow at the Hotel Chevillon in Grez-sur-Loing, France. In this same year she was invited to become Scottish Poetry Library Poet Partner for East Dumbarton. In 2007 she was awarded the
Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
International Fellowship at the India International Centre in Delhi and in 2006 Mundair was runner up in the Penguin Decibel Prize for Short Fiction. Raman has been Writer in Residence in Stockholm, New Delhi, Glasgow and the Shetland Islands and has represented The British Council as a writer, workshop facilitator and performer internationally. She is a sought after facilitator of creative writing workshops and her client list ranges from schools and universities to the British Council and Amnesty International. Raman is a member of Scottish PEN. As a playwright Raman was awarded a mentorship with the Playwrights Studio Scotland in 2005. In 2007 her play ‘The Algebra of Freedom’ was produced to great acclaim by 7:84 Theatre Company and in 2006 she collaborated with the National Theatre Scotland and Òran Mòr – A Play, A Pie, A Pint on ''Side Effects'', a one-act play, which went on to tour Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin. Raman was one of the 24 writers chosen by the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
and the BBC in 2008 for their 24 Degrees project which nurtures and develops work by the "next generation of promising new writers in Britain". As an artist she makes work that represents text and narrative in a visual form. She has collaborated with artist Pernille Spence, filmmaker, Lotta Petronella and new media artist Sean Clark. Her work has been exhibited at Shetland Museum and Archive, the Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow, City Art Gallery, Leicester and the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. In 2011, as part of her Leafing the Green writer's residency, she was commissioned by Aberdeen City Council to create the Secrets of the Green – an interactive poetry plaque installation on the Green in Aberdeen city centre. In 2008 Raman was invited to read at the Scottish Government EU office in Brussels and gave the "reply to the lads" speech at their official Burn’s Supper. She was identified by a national literary survey of Scottish writing as being an exciting, new rising literary voice (Discovering Scottish Literature – A Contemporary Overview, 2008).


Early life

Mundair was born in
Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...
,
Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...
and migrated with her Mother to
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, England in the 70s. She is a first-generation
British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...
but resists pigeon-holing saying that she refuses to "reduce my identity just so that binary minds can read me." She lived in Manchester until she was fifteen and then moved to Loughborough (UK). She left the East Midlands (UK) to study History at the
School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...
, University of London.


Poetry

Mundair's first collection of poetry, ''Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves'', was published by Peepal Tree Press in 2003. Recent work includes commissioned poems for Ilkley Literature festival, Allegories of Power residency and Edinburgh University’s Writing the North project. Her book ''A Choreographer's Cartography'' was published by Peepal Tree Press in 2007 and is about the transcendence of boundaries and boundary crossing, ranging from migration to language. Mundair has taught and run workshops and also been poet in residence at various places ranging from Stockholm University, to the
Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...
Islands. She has taught Creative Writing at postgraduate level and South Asian Literature at under graduate level at Loughborough University.


Prose

Mundair was runner up in the Penguin Decibel Prize for Short Fiction in 2006. Her collection of short stories – ''In The Light of Other'' will be published in 2009.


Plays

Side Effects – a site/cast specific collaboration with the National Theatre Scotland opened in August 2006 at the Oran Mor in Glasgow and toured to Edinburgh and Dublin.


Publications

* ''A Choreographer’s Cartography'' (Peepal Tree Press, 2007) * ''The Algebra of Freedom'' (Aurora Metro Press, 2007) * ''Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves'' (Peepal Tree Press, 2003) * ''Incoming – Some Shetland Voices'' (Shetland Heritage Publications, 2014) – editor and contributor Mundair’s work has been anthologised in the following: * ''Archipelagos, writing the north project'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2014) * ''Conversations About Empires'' (Ilkley Literature Festival, 2012) * ''Out of Bounds'' (Bloodaxe, 2012) * ''The Harper Collins Book of English Poetry'' (Harper Collins India, 2012) * ''The New Shetlander'', Yule Issue (SISS, 2011) * ''ImagiNation, Stories of Scotland’s Future'' (Big Sky Press, 2011) * ''These Island We Sing'' (Polygon Birlinn, 2011) * ''Departures and Arrivals'' (Scottish PEN, 2009) * ''Red'' (Peepal Tree Press, 2009) * ''The New Anthem'' (Tranquebar Press, 2009) * ''One Poem in Search of a Translator: Rewriting Les Fenêtres by Apollinaire'' (Peter Lang, 2008) * ''Atlas'' 02, (Aark Arts, 2007) * ''Addicted to Brightness'' (Long Lunch Press, 2006) * ''Sable'' – Autumn/Fall 06 Issue (Sable Publishing, 2006) * 60/60, ''Daemon'' 7 & 8 (Survivors Press, 2005) * ''Freedom Spring'' (Waverley Books, 2005) * ''Poetry Scotland'', Summer 2005, (Diehard publishers, 2005) * ''Acuman, New Voices'', Issue 51 (The Ember Press 2005) * '' Kavya Bharati, Poetry of the Indian Diaspora'', No. 16, 2004 (The Study for Indian Literature in English and Translation, 2004) * ''Swedish Reflections'' (Arcadia, 2003). * ''Markings – New Writing and Art from Dumfries and Galloway'': Volume 16 (Kirkcudbright/Scottish Arts Council, 2003) * ''The New Shetlander'', Hairst Issue (SISS,2003) * ''Sable'' – Spring/Summer03 Issue (Sable Publishing, 2003) * ''Calabash'', Winter 2002, (Centreprise, 2002) * ''The New Shetlander, Voar Issue'' (SISS,2002) * ''The Redbeck Anthology of British South Asian Poetry'' (Redbeck, 2000) * ''Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry'' (
The Women's Press The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, the Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature. Founding In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cof ...
, 1998) * ''The Fire People: A Collection of Contemporary Black British Poets'' (Payback Press/Canongate Books, 1998) Mundair wrote the introduction to ''Red Threads'', P. Desai and P. Sekhon (Diva/Miillivres, 2003), a collection of photographs by British Asian queer photographers.


Visual art

2014 * ''the incoming project'' (installation), Shetland Museum and Archives 2011 * ''A Servant’s Tale'' at Coast Festival (site-specific installation for the Coast Festival), a collaboration with artists Margaret Stewart and Elspeth Winram from the Itchee Wasp Collective. The work was exhibited in the East Pavilion of Banff Castle, Scotland and draws on the perceived history and hidden narratives of Banff Castle. 2008 * ''Here Now, There Now'' (site-specific, text/performance/installation), a collaboration with artist and Creative Scotland award winner Pernille Spence (Scotland), exhibited along Scot Rail routes in Scotland on 4–6 June. 2007 * ''Amygdalae'' (text – part of a performance/installation), a collaboration with Irish artist, Maedhbh McMohan at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 2005 * ''Voice/Over'' (text/film installation) at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow * ''Noctuary'' (film). A triptych of three short films: Pavor Nocturnus, Apnea & Cataplexia explore the effects of domestic violence on sleep. The films were originally exhibited at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow as part of the Elbow Room season. A collaboration with Finnish filmmaker Lotta Petronella. * ''A Choreographer's Cartography'', (new media/text installation), Leicester City Gallery * ''Black Pepper Dreams'' (text/ billboard exhibit and online installation), as part of ArchiTexts 2005 2004 * Awarded Flax Art Studio Residency, Belfast. Residency resulted in Answer Me A Question, a text piece, disseminated throughout the city using a series of postcards. * Participating artist (text/photography/video installation) in the Rule of Thumb exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow 2003 * ''TXT ME'' (new media installation) art of 'FOLD' at the Leicester City Art Gallery 2000 * ''Let Me Hold You'' (installation) – part of ''Fragments of Identity'' exhibition, at The Generator Gallery, Loughborough"Fragments of Identity".
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References


Sources


Raman Mundair at www.contemporarywriters.com

Raman Mundair commissioned poems and dialogue in the Writing The North project
Edinburgh University, 2014
PDF download of commissioned poems by Raman Mundair
for Ilkley Literature Festival, 2011


the incoming project
by Raman Mundair, Leverhulme Artist in Residence, Shetland Museum and Archives

* ttp://www.art-architecture.co.uk/architexts/?location_id=4 Raman Mundair text installationfor Architexts 2005 on Indian soldiers in World War 1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mundair, Raman English women poets Indian women poets Living people English dramatists and playwrights Alumni of SOAS University of London Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Ludhiana Academics of Loughborough University Indian emigrants to England English women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Manchester