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The Brown Anthology, Language
A poem about the poet undefeated by the overbearing stereotypes. The story about a grandma with her blue shoes matching her blue sari, lost in the जंगल (jangal). Not to forget Urdu preventing the poet from abandoning her courtyards.
The Brown Anthology series is about historical, present and future Brown, without the need or prerequisite to explain, justify or create art to suit the perception of Brown. The first theme is language and it features poems, short stories, an essay and illustrations by South Asian writers and artists from India, Pakistan, the UK and the USA. This is a declaration to push the boundaries of literature.
The Brown Anthology series is about historical, present and future Brown, without the need or prerequisite to explain, justify or create art to suit the perception of Brown. The first theme is language and it features poems, short stories, an essay and illustrations by South Asian writers and artists from India, Pakistan, the UK and the USA. This is a declaration to push the boundaries of literature.
- GenresPoetry
108 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2020
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 25, 2021
In The Brown Anthology, Sofia Amina compiles a focused text of work by South Asian writers and artists in various styles, including poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and illustrations. Within this eclectic mix of authors, the contributors include Arundhathi Subramaniam, Meena Kandasamy, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Amna Naeem, Rashi Rajguru, K. Devan and more, and their writings loosely revolve around the theme of language and belonging. Among other concerns that echo and recur are the resistance to essentialized ideas of identity, as addressed in Arundhathi Subramaniam's opening poem “To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian". The subsequent poems also address how "authenticity" and "cultural competence" seem important only if they conform to the existing patterns in the mainstream literature. Some of the poems in particular that stood out to me and offer a good contrast between the pieces of writing within this book include “A Silent Letter", written by Meena Kandasamy, along with “Ode to Our Languages” by Rukmini Bhaya Nair.
At the heart of these efforts is an intense desire and commitment to celebrate your language and identity – to challenge or reimagine literary canon – and to carve a space for the art so sorely disregarded as unmarketable by the mainstream. When explaining part of the motivation for this anthology, the editor, Sofia Amina writes "The Brown Anthology series is about historical, present and future Brown, without the need or prerequisite to explain, justify or create art to suit the perception of Brown." Sofia succeeds with such a fantastic gathering.
The Brown Anthology is an embodied work. It is a journey of belonging. It is a declaration to push the boundaries of literature in a world so titillated by our constant subjugation, as reflected by the curator Sofia Amina. It is also about resistance, about a collective hunger to come to voice, to write and to recover our language.
Finally, The Brown Anthology is decolonizing.
At the heart of these efforts is an intense desire and commitment to celebrate your language and identity – to challenge or reimagine literary canon – and to carve a space for the art so sorely disregarded as unmarketable by the mainstream. When explaining part of the motivation for this anthology, the editor, Sofia Amina writes "The Brown Anthology series is about historical, present and future Brown, without the need or prerequisite to explain, justify or create art to suit the perception of Brown." Sofia succeeds with such a fantastic gathering.
The Brown Anthology is an embodied work. It is a journey of belonging. It is a declaration to push the boundaries of literature in a world so titillated by our constant subjugation, as reflected by the curator Sofia Amina. It is also about resistance, about a collective hunger to come to voice, to write and to recover our language.
Finally, The Brown Anthology is decolonizing.
October 1, 2020
The Brown Anthology is a collection of poems, short stories supported with beautiful illustrations which do justice to the words. I was introduced to authors I hadn’t heard of before and was excited find familiar names. While reading this beautifully crafted collection, it felt like I was a polyglot. TBA focuses on various Indian languages, and each story/poem is a description of the language in form of memories and moments. It took me longer than usual to read this one mostly because I wanted to immerse myself in each piece. My highlight in this book was ‘Urdu’ by Amna Naeem. I have been focusing on reading Urdu better this year and it gave me great joy to read Amna’s work in Urdu instead of directly heading over to the translation.
It’s been a long time since I read an anthology and was reminded of my school years. If I were to describe TBA in one line I would say: it’s South Asia in a book. Read this collection if you are interested in books which focus on artistic expressions, poetry and memory based stories.
It’s been a long time since I read an anthology and was reminded of my school years. If I were to describe TBA in one line I would say: it’s South Asia in a book. Read this collection if you are interested in books which focus on artistic expressions, poetry and memory based stories.
December 1, 2020
Rating: 7/10
I was sent a copy of this anthology by the editor, these are my reflections:
It is always tricky to review anthologies and collections. While they are promoted as aggregations assembled around a theme, they are often disconnected and hard to read, even if essential — the LSE book review has an essay on the importance of anthologies and edited collections. This does not seem to be the case with Sofia Amina’s first edition of Brown Anthology. The theme for this edition is — broadly — language. And much of the writings between its pages are very identifiably about language. Stylistically, the Anthology is challenging to describe. But its elusiveness is its strength more than its weakness. It houses both poetry and prose. It has short stories, creative non-fiction pieces, illustrations, and some pieces which are not as easily classifiable. The Anthology moves swiftly through these variations, welcoming the ambiguous, the amorphous. The Anthology is also as much about identity as it is about language. In the first poem — by Arundhati Subramaniam- the title reads: To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian. This sets the tone for the rest of the collection. In each of the pieces, there is a delicate dance between language and identity. While the writers speak about language, moulding their words around its insecurities, their pieces also talk about other things: belonging, love, relationships, racism, and bodies. Language may be the protagonist of the Anthology but identity — it would seem — is the background, the canvas, the boulevard through which language walks through. What the Brown Anthology tries to do, and to a certain extent does achieve, is show Brown as a spectrum. It breaks away from the unfortunate tradition of Brown diasporic writing that has had to fit itself in a particular form to be accepted on print. There is a subtle distinction between dis/respecting the art of translation and acknowledging how English occupies so much center. The Brown Anthology gets you thinking about it.
I was sent a copy of this anthology by the editor, these are my reflections:
It is always tricky to review anthologies and collections. While they are promoted as aggregations assembled around a theme, they are often disconnected and hard to read, even if essential — the LSE book review has an essay on the importance of anthologies and edited collections. This does not seem to be the case with Sofia Amina’s first edition of Brown Anthology. The theme for this edition is — broadly — language. And much of the writings between its pages are very identifiably about language. Stylistically, the Anthology is challenging to describe. But its elusiveness is its strength more than its weakness. It houses both poetry and prose. It has short stories, creative non-fiction pieces, illustrations, and some pieces which are not as easily classifiable. The Anthology moves swiftly through these variations, welcoming the ambiguous, the amorphous. The Anthology is also as much about identity as it is about language. In the first poem — by Arundhati Subramaniam- the title reads: To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian. This sets the tone for the rest of the collection. In each of the pieces, there is a delicate dance between language and identity. While the writers speak about language, moulding their words around its insecurities, their pieces also talk about other things: belonging, love, relationships, racism, and bodies. Language may be the protagonist of the Anthology but identity — it would seem — is the background, the canvas, the boulevard through which language walks through. What the Brown Anthology tries to do, and to a certain extent does achieve, is show Brown as a spectrum. It breaks away from the unfortunate tradition of Brown diasporic writing that has had to fit itself in a particular form to be accepted on print. There is a subtle distinction between dis/respecting the art of translation and acknowledging how English occupies so much center. The Brown Anthology gets you thinking about it.
October 28, 2020
The Brown Anthology edited by Sofia Amina
I love reading about the experiences people have living within multiple cultures. I have really been into Anthologies this year. I think it’s a great way to read multiple authors and gives you a great stepping stone into a particular topic.
The Brown Anthology is complied of poems, stories and illustrations from Brown/South Asian creators. The overall theme of this anthology is Language.
It is absolutely so unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read. There are names and stories printed in different languages (and translated in English) which is so fascinating, especially to someone like myself who loves languages!
The editor, Sofia Amina, created a Micro-press @1010press to publish this book. We know that Brown, Black and other POC voices are quite neglected in the publishing industry. “There isn’t an audience for this” is something they continue to hear. I am so impressed that Sofia decided to create this micro-press so that marginalized voices can be at the forefront!
I’ll be talking more about this soon so stay tuned! In the meantime be sure to follow Sofia and the Press!
I love reading about the experiences people have living within multiple cultures. I have really been into Anthologies this year. I think it’s a great way to read multiple authors and gives you a great stepping stone into a particular topic.
The Brown Anthology is complied of poems, stories and illustrations from Brown/South Asian creators. The overall theme of this anthology is Language.
It is absolutely so unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read. There are names and stories printed in different languages (and translated in English) which is so fascinating, especially to someone like myself who loves languages!
The editor, Sofia Amina, created a Micro-press @1010press to publish this book. We know that Brown, Black and other POC voices are quite neglected in the publishing industry. “There isn’t an audience for this” is something they continue to hear. I am so impressed that Sofia decided to create this micro-press so that marginalized voices can be at the forefront!
I’ll be talking more about this soon so stay tuned! In the meantime be sure to follow Sofia and the Press!
September 2, 2020
The Brown Anthology series is about historical, present and future Brown, without the need or prerequisite to explain, justify or create art to suit the perception of Brown.' - Sofia Amina, series editor and creator of 1010 Press
This is a beautiful collection of writing and illustrations from award-winning and upcoming South Asian artists, all around the idea of 'language'. My interpretation of Amina's intention is that this collection should be unapologetically itself and not seek to present itself in a way that is palatable to a Western [White] audience - and, in my opinion, it does just that. I could tell that I had missed huge sqathes of what this collection was offering, but still appreciated its richness and beauty. I was truly moved by 'Lost in a Jangal', a short story about family and intergenerational language barriers by K. Devan. Like many of the works in this collection, it brough to the fore the ways in which language can both divide and unite, how fundamental it is, but also the things that transcend spoken words.
Thank you to 1010 Press for gifting me a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest reivew
This is a beautiful collection of writing and illustrations from award-winning and upcoming South Asian artists, all around the idea of 'language'. My interpretation of Amina's intention is that this collection should be unapologetically itself and not seek to present itself in a way that is palatable to a Western [White] audience - and, in my opinion, it does just that. I could tell that I had missed huge sqathes of what this collection was offering, but still appreciated its richness and beauty. I was truly moved by 'Lost in a Jangal', a short story about family and intergenerational language barriers by K. Devan. Like many of the works in this collection, it brough to the fore the ways in which language can both divide and unite, how fundamental it is, but also the things that transcend spoken words.
Thank you to 1010 Press for gifting me a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest reivew
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews