Yes.
Setu is eight months old.
A dream come true.
Baby steps. But steps in the right direction.
Spreading cheers and hope in a gloomy world of new walls and the fashionable isolationism and hard-core protectionism going by the name of Brexit. The trend replicates in every nation. Suddenly nationalism is in and multiculturalism, out!
How economics changes ideologies. And quest for power further plays on national insecurities by recting mental and material barriers.
Setu is diametrically opposite to any monochromatic world-view. It promotes bridges of understanding across cultures through national literatures operating in global contexts and raising sane voices against any narrative of hate and discrimination.
Serious writing does that.
This is the first issue of the year 2017. Already, the bilingual monthly is drawing attention through its monthly menu of varied items for our global readers.
This issue is no different.
The author under spotlight is Sudeep Sen. The Delhi-based eminent litterateur has consolidated an international commercial and critical reputation for his vast body of avant-garde works and earned the respect of peers and scholars everywhere. We are happy to feature Sudeep as the highly-recognized face of the contemporary poetry in English. He is an invited speaker in all major Lit Fests of the world---a great achievement for a writer living in India, not abroad. Another significant poet-activist is Penpen Bugtong Taikipsilim from the Philippines---a man who has created a world-wide movement of poetry, friendship and peace via his own initiative called Pentasi B World Friendship Poetry, involving writers from every nation. A refreshing approach in these stifling times of xenophobia and closed borders!
These two writers bring in their own signature energies to this issue. They are---like others---creating bridges and trying to make world, a better place, for everybody.
The fictions by Jane Seaford and Glory Sasikala are further value-additions by these two gifted story tellers. Other notables are: Janine Pickett; Louis Kastakin; Rob Harle; jaydeep Sarangi; Scott Thomas Outlar; Julia Gherghei; Ram Sharma and Steffen Hortsmann. These writers are consistently good and prolific and have earned a great reputation for their dedication and artistic vision in the international community of writers, readers, critics and publishers. Other fellow writers in the issue are equally good and competent and on their way to top slot on the basis of their sheer talent and craft.
It is a healthy mix of emerging and established writers.
An interesting piece of travel writing in Africa is by a Mumbai-based medical professional Swati Gadgil and it is an essay in cultural encounters of different kind.
Lastly, the searing indictment of the current Chile by the noted French-Chilean poet Ximena Gautier Greve through an honest travelogue of a recent visit to her troubled homeland is an act of pure courage and conviction---and unadulterated patriotism. These days, few writers will dare such an expose but Ximena is a brave poet who stands up against any injustice and anti-people policies of the State anywhere. Setu Salutes her for her strong belief in humanitarian cause and for speaking up on behalf of a silenced and mutilated country.
We need more of her tribe.
Interviews; book reviews; translations; photo-feature; book news---everything packed in tight for a reading on a stormy night by the window opening up on a bleak political landscape…
Please, encourage us by visiting Setu.
Mumbai, India
Editor,
Setu, English
