Rochelle Potkar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rochelle Potkar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kalyan, Maharashtra, India |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | La Trobe University |
| Genre | Fiction, poetry, short story |
| Notable works | The Arithmetic of Breasts & Other Stories Four Degrees of Separation Paper Asylum Bombay Hangovers |
| Website | |
| rochellepotkar | |
Rochelle Potkar is an Indian writer. Her work includes short stories and poetry. She was a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program in 2015, and a Charles Wallace Writer's fellow at the University of Stirling, Scotland in 2016-17. She is the founder of the Arcs-of-a-Circle artists' residency program.[1]
Rochelle Potkar was born in Kalyan.[2][1] She moved to Mumbai in 1998.[2] She completed a degree in commerce and a post-graduate degree in advertising[3] from Wigan and Leigh College, Mahalaxmi[citation needed] and completed an MBA from La Trobe University, Australia.[1]
Career
Her short stories and poems have been published in books, journals, and anthologies.[4][5][3] After visiting the Tapi estuary at Surat in 2007, she wrote the story "Tropical Estuary."[5][6][7] Her first book of short fiction, The Arithmetic of Breasts and Other Stories, was self-published in 2014 and shortlisted for The Digital Book of the Year Award 2014, by Publishing Next, Goa.[8][9] In 2014, she was one of the founders of Cappuccino Readings (CR), which organized poetry readings in Mumbai.[10][11] Around this time, she also participated in Poetry Couture, an association formed to promote poetry readings in India,[12] and was co-editor of Neesah Magazine.[13]
In 2015, she was selected to participate as a writer-in-residence in the 2015 Fall residency program of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.[14][15][16][17]
Her first book of poetry, Four Degrees of Separation, was published in 2016.[3][18] In 2016, two of her poems were included in the anthology 40 under 40: an Anthology of Post-Globalization Poetry.[19]
She was the 2016-2017 Charles Wallace Writer's fellow at the University of Stirling, Scotland.[20][21] In 2017, she founded the Arcs-of-a-Circle Artists' Residency in Mumbai.[1] In 2017 and 2018, she contributed to the Joao Roque Literary Journal as poetry editor.[22]
Rochelle practices and promotes the Japanese short poetry form haibun through workshops.[1][23] In 2018, she published a collection of haibun, Paper Asylum.[24][25] In his blog review of Paper Asylum, the poet Jayant Kashyap called Potkar "a wonderful weaver of stories" for her "very reasonably resonant" poetry.[26][27] In 2018, a poem she wrote during her Iowa residency was adapted into a film for the Visible Poetry Project.[28][29]
She co-edited the 2018 Goan-Irish anthology, Goa: A Garland of Poems, with Gabriel Rosenstock.[30] Her collection of short stories, Bombay Hangovers, was published by Vishwakarma Publications in 2021. Her short story "Honour" was included in The Punch Magazine’s Anthology of New Writing: Select Short Stories by Women Writers, also published in 2021.[31]
As actor
Rochelle played a character role in the Tamil feature-length film, Taramani, directed by Ram.[32][33]
Selected work
Poetry
- Four Degrees of Separation, Paperwall, March 2016 ISBN 978-9382749363[34][35]
- Paper Asylum, Copper Coin Publishing, May 2018 ISBN 978-9384109264[36]
Short stories
- The Arithmetic of Breasts And Other Stories, CreateSpace, 2014, Rochelle Potkar, 2019 ISBN 978-9351749004[37]
- Bombay Hangovers, Vishwakarma Publications ISBN 978-8195012633[38]
Novel
- Dreams of Déjà vu (2017) ISBN 978-1520402826[39]
Anthologies
- 40 Under 40: An Anthology of Post-Globalisation, Poetrywalla, 2016 ISBN 978-9382749448[40]
- The Best Asian Short Stories, Kitab International, 2017 ISBN 978-9811149702[21]
- Goa: A Garland of Poems, The Onslaught Press, 2017 ISBN 978-1912111664
- Iowa River: A Selection of Contemporary International Poetry ISBN 978-1-988483-26-9
- 100 Poems Are Not Enough, Walking BookFairs, 2018 ISBN 978-8193646939
- Writing Language, Culture, and Development: Africa Vs Asia: Volume 1, 2018 ISBN 9780797484931
- The Punch Magazine Anthology of New Writing: Select Short Stories by Women Writers, Niyogi Books, 2021 ISBN 978-9391125318[41]
Honors and awards
Short fiction
- Winner, Open Road Review Short Story Prize, 2016, for "The Leaves of the Deodar"[42]
Poetry
- Shortlist, the Gregory O' Donoghue International Poetry Prize, 2018, for The girl from Lal Bazaar[43][44]
- Shortlist, 2017 Hungry Hill Writing Competition, Ireland, for "Cellular: P.O.W."[45]
- Third place at the David Burland Poetry Prize 2017, for "Ground up"[46]
- Winner of the 2018 Norton Girault Literary Prize for "To Daraza"[47]
- First runner up, Great India Poetry Contest, for "War Specials"[48]
