Keki N. Daruwalla, 1937-

Select page numbers to listen or LCCN to display the bibliographic record.

Readings:

1. Night river : poems.
   New Delhi : Rupa & Co., 2000.
   (LCCN: 00372161)
   MP3 excerpts: pp. 7-8, pp. 1-3, pp. 21, pp. 77-78, pp. 82-83, pp. 84, 88
   
2. A Summer of tigers : poems.
   New Delhi : Indus, 1995.
   (LCCN: 96900692)
   MP3 excerpts: pp. 9-10, pp. 11-12, pp.22-23, 47-49
   
3. Landscapes.
   Delhi : OUP, 1987.
   (LCCN: 87900009)
   MP3 excerpts: pp. 17, pp. 65-66, pp. 53-55
   
4. Winter poems.
   New Delhi : Rupa & Co., 2000.
   (LCCN: 81902674, LC has different edition)
   MP3 excerpts: pp. 14, pp. 16-17, pp. 49-50
   
5. Under orion.
   New Delhi : Rupa & Co., 2000.
   (LCCN: 70913968, LC has different edition)
   MP3 excerpts: pp. 40-41, pp. 30-31, pp. 36-37
   
6. The Minister for permanent unrest & other stories.
   New Delhi : Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1996.
   (LCCN: 96906362)
   MP3 excerpt: pp. 148-155
   

Born in 1937 in Lahore, now in Pakistan, Keki N. Daruwalla has been a notable presence on the literary scene for quite some time. The characteristic features of his poetry can be described as vigor and immediacy of language, knife-edge tone, an abiding and infatuated concern with love, death and domination, a skeptic and indignant cynicism about the plight of human society and a rare intensity in portraying living individuals. Daruwalla readily admits to critics' charges of being too much of a landscape poet who takes into his aesthetic stride the sights and sounds of England, Yugoslavia, Helsinki, Stockholm, Volgograd, and Moscow which he has visited for poetry readings. His thematic canvas transcends the boundaries of India and stretches itself into the rest of the world. Critics maintain his concern for broad landscape imagery rather than political and social issues is a result of his long career as a Government of India official.

While pursuing his craft of writing, Keki N. Daruwalla served an illustrious career in Indian Police Service, rising to become a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on International Affairs. He subsequently was in the Cabinet Secretariat until his retirement.

A recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award and Commonwealth Poetry Award, Keki N. Daruwalla has so far published about 12 books, consisting of mostly poems and a couple of fictional works. Some of his important works are Under Orion, The keeper of the dead, Landscapes, A summer of tigers and The minister for permanent unrest & other stories. He also edited Two decades of Indian poetry. The Library of Congress has all his books.