Indran Amirthanayagam (born 1960) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n-American

poet-diplomat Poet-diplomats are poets who have also served their countries as diplomats. In the Anglo-Saxon world, the best known poet-diplomats are perhaps Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Wyatt (poet), Thomas Wyatt; the category also includes recipients of the Nob ...

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

ist and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, Portuguese and Haitian Creole.

Life

Amirthanayagam was born in 1960 in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, Ceylon (now

). When he was eight years old, he moved with his family to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and at age 14, his family moved again to

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, where he began writing. He then studied English literature at

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

, where he also captained their cricket team during his last year. Amirthanayagam has a master's degree in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He is a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

in the

U.S. Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carryi ...

, based currently in Washington, D.C.

Work

He writes poetry and essays in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. His Spanish collections include " Isleno" (R.I.L. Editores, Spain, 2021) El Infierno de los Pajaros'' (Resistencia,

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

), ''El Hombre que Recoge Nidos'' (CONARTE/Resistencia,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

), "Lirica a tiempo" (Mesa Redonda,

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, 2020), Sin Adorno, lirica para tiempos neobarrocos (Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, Mexico, 2013). Ventana azul, was published by El Tapiz del Unicornio in February 2016 in Mexico City. In 2019, in Lima, "En busca de posada" was published by Editorial Apogeo, and Paolo 9 by Manofalsa. His three collections in French, Aller-retour au bord de la mer. ''Il n'est de solitude que l'ile lointaine'', and Sur l'ile nostalgique, were published in 2014, 2017 and 2020 by Legs Editions and L'Harmattan. He has also published ''The Splintered Face'' (Hanging Loose Press, 2008),''Ceylon R.I.P.'' (International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka, 2001), and Coconuts On Mars (wwww.paperwall.in). The poem "So Beautiful" was broadcast on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''The United States of Poetry''.

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

reported on Amirthanayagam's Spanish poems in a news report in August, 1999. His poems have been anthologized in The United States of Poetry, World English Poetry, Language for a New Century, ''ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe'', ''The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America'', ''The Nuyorasian Anthology'', ''Black Lightning'', ''Living in America'', ''The Four Way Reader #1''. His poems have also been published in ''Grand Street'', ''The Kenyon Review'', ''The Massachusetts Review'', ''Exquisite Corpse'', ''Hanging Loose'', ''BOMB,'' and elsewhere in the U.S.. Poems written originally in French and Spanish have been published in

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua and Argentina. His translations of Mexican poet Manuel Ulacia were published in Origami:Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books, 2023) and in ''Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry''. and Fafnir's Heart (World Poetry in Translation). Translations of Jose Eugenio Sanchez have been published online. Amirthanayagam has translated Kaita-Sofia Hakim, Chema Paz Gago, Natacha Feliz Franco, Natalie Gomez, Sylvie Poisson, Fabricio Estrada, Jorge Ureta Sandoval, Kenia Cano, Francois DeBleu and Beatriz Russo, among other poets from Latin America and Europe. His poetic history of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Uncivil War, was published in 2013. Amirthanayagam read in the international poetry festivals in London (1996), San Salvador (2005), Rosario (2005) Medellin (2010), Lima(2012), Granada, Nicaragua (2009 and 2014,), Santo Domingo (2015), Honduras (2019).

Bibliography

* The Elephants Of Reckoning, Hanging Loose Press, 1993 (pbk), (hard) * Ceylon R.I.P., Institute for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2001 * El infierno de los pájaros, Editorial Resistencia, Mexico City, Mexico, 2001 * El Hombre que Recoge Nidos, Resistencia/Conarte, Mexico City, Mexico, 2005 * The Splintered Face: Tsunami Poems, Hanging Loose Press, 2008 * Sol Camuflado, Lustra Editores, Lima, 2010 * La pelota del pulpo (The Octopus's Ball), Editorial Apogeo, Lima, 2012 * Sin adorno—lírica para tiempos neobarrocos, Univ. Autonoma de Nuevo León, Mexico 2012 * Uncivil War, Tsar—now Mawenzi House, Toronto, 2013 * Aller-Retour Au Bord de la Mer, Legs Editions, Haïti. 2014 * Ventana Azul, El Tapiz del Unicornio, México, 2016 * Pwezi a Kat Men (written with Alex LaGuerre). Edition Delince, * Il n'est de solitude que l'île lointaine, Legs Editions, Haiti, 2017 * Coconuts On Mars, Poetrywala, Paperwall Publishers, Mumbai, India, 2019 * En busca de posada, Editorial Apogeo, Lima, Peru, 2019 * Paolo 9, Manofalsa, Lima, Peru, 2019 * Lírica, a tiempo, Editorial Mesa Redonda, Lima, 2020 * The Migrant States, Hanging Loose Press, 2020 * Sur l'île nostalgique, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2020 * Blue Window, translated by Jennifer Rathbun, Diálogos Books, 2021 * Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant, Broadstone Books, 2022 * Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia, Diálogos Books, 2023 * Rankont Dout, CD with Donaldzie Theodore, Pawol Tanbou, Titi Congo. Port-au-Prince. October 2017 * They Died Not in Vain, music video, with Evans Okan, Cuernavaca, November 2019 *

Awards

Amirthanayagam's ''The Elephants Of Reckoning'' won the 1994

Paterson Poetry Prize Paterson may refer to: People *Paterson (surname) *Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales *Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales * Paterson, Queensland, a loca ...

. The poem "Juarez" won the Juegos Florales of Guaymas, Sonora in 2006. Amirthanayagam has received the

Superior Honor Award The Superior Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID. It is presented to groups or individ ...

and the

Meritorious Honor Award The Meritorious Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID. It is presented to groups or indi ...

(thrice) from the Department of State for his diplomatic work. Amirthanayagam is a 2020 Poetry Fellow from the Foundation for the Contemporary Arts. He has also received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the US/Mexico Fund for Culture and the Macdowell Colony. In 2022 Amirthanayagam received the 2022 IFLAC World Poet/Poeta Mundial award.

References

External links

Indran Amirthanayagam
at Beltway Poetry
Indran Amirthanayagam
at the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

*Indran Amirthanayagam at El Acento https://acento.com.do/autor/index.html?user_slug=indran *
Youtube Channel
* www.beltwayeditions.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Amirthanayagam, Indran American male poets Tamil poets Diplomats for the United States Sri Lankan emigrants Immigrants to the United States Sri Lankan Tamil writers Sri Lankan Tamil people 1960 births Living people 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers