Nirbachita Kabita

An intense anthology, steeped in fearless intellect, Gayatribala Panda's poems are a comment on her socio-political landscape and the resultant human condition. Woven in her native language, varying from its most colloquial to its richest form and her land, its soil, its people and its legacy setting up a searing backdrop for her deep words, these poems are a comment on her homeland's greatest struggles, fissures and wounds across social categories, particularly the challenges, injustices and atrocities perpetrated against women in a largely patriarchal setup. Known for adding the human to the abstract, Gayatribala Panda gives us a slice of Odisha in verse to savour and to contemplate on.