Release of the much-awaited new book from Tishani Doshi, A God at the Door

Shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Collection

The poems in this collection sings about the body, artworks, friendships, trees, tigers, and tackles hyper-nationalism and misogyny head on, transforming a collective grief, anger and loneliness into a beam of hope and resilience. A God at the Door is nothing short of a tour de force. Reading Tishani Doshi’s new book will be a transformative experience.

On the publication of her new collection of poems, Tishani Doshi, says ‘Much of A God at the Door was written in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, although I had been writing poems leading up to this, mainly responses to news items ranging from the comic, to the disturbing, to the absurd. I was thinking about borders – porous and nonporous, inner and outer, micro and macro, the collapse between the you and the I. Part of why so many of my poems are responses to news items is because we are bombarded by the news, and with greater confinement, even more boxed in by the news. The language of newspeak is the opposite of the language of poetry – it bombards and jolts, then deadens and desensitizes. I see poems as a way to speak back to these headlines, to restore power to language and to offer an alternative space and time zone from the relentlessness of the news cycle. The question I kept asking was where is hope in all of this, and what is holy anymore?’

Sohini Basak, commissioning editor, adds ‘It is always a pleasure and a privilege to work with Tishani. Her craft is exquisite, honed to perfection. A God at the Door captures the zeitgeist of these times; reading the poems during the pandemic was a cathartic experience and we sincerely hope that readers will be able to take shelter and find solace in these poems.’

 

Praise for the book

‘May we always have the music and elegant fury of Tishani Doshi’s poetry.’

FATIMA BHUTTO

‘The poems of Tishani Doshi’s A God at the Door operate on the grand scale, reaching for visionary responses … stunning and ambitious.’

THE GUARDIAN

‘At the core of Doshi’s poetry is a quest, traced through anguish and exhilaration, for that hidden yet ever-present harmony which connects all species, animates all things, heals all trauma. A reader could explore the topographies of this book for ever.’

RANJIT HOSKOTE

About the Author

Tishani Doshi publishes poetry, essays and fiction. Her most recent books are Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award, and a novel, Small Days and Nights, shortlisted for the RSL