POET TACKLES MISOGYNY, RACISM AND GLOBAL SOCIAL INJUSTICE IN NEW POWERHOUSE COLLECTION
UNAPOLOGETICALLY FEMINIST by Urvashi Bundel
Fiercely independent and constantly thought-provoking....Certain lines keep resonating in our minds long after we have finished reading the book.”
UNITED STATES, April 12, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Poet Urvashi Bundel2 has published a new powerhouse collection UNAPOLOGETICALLY FEMINIST1, in which she fights against the ravaging wildfires of misogyny, racism, and global social injustice with her own star-bright flame. She travels the world in line after feverish line—observing, reporting back, and crying out for change. — Reedsy Discovery
In so many of the places she goes, a woman of color with a strong, independent mind is too often vilified—her rights singed, her reputation covered in soot. Capitalism and imperialist wars only throw more fossil fuels onto this fire that blazes through one drought-blighted country after another.
She writes:
How a nation gets auctioned
For sugar
And how tears become
Cheaper than onions.
Sometimes you have no choice but to fight fire with fire, she says. In UNAPOLOGETICALLY FEMINIST, Bundel rises like a phoenix to prepare the way for the new green growth that unfurls from these smoldering embers, the smell of smoke blossoming in her hair.
The poems have many themes, primary among them being advocacy for refugee protection in times of crisis. In times of forced displacement, Bundel says, we need genuine compassion for people who flee their homelands only to be found in undesired places, searching for morsels of food and money to raise their family. “We as a society need to understand that life of a refugee is full of hardships from the get-go, and so, the least we as their hosts or observers can do is treat them with dignity and respect, regardless of whether they speak our tongue or not.”
The book also advocates for intersectional feminism and sheds light on various facets in a person’s life that may amount to different forms of discrimination (sexism, racism, classism) which could eventually overlap.
Reedsy Discovery, which gave the book a 4-star rating and voted it into the category of “Best Books Released This Week,” calls the book “fiercely independent and constantly thought-provoking....Overall, the anthology helps us confront some of the most pressing issues faced by colored women all over the world and inspires people to do the same….Certain lines keep resonating in our minds long after we have finished reading the book.”
“As for the inspiration itself, I feel inundated,” the poet says. “I mean, where do you start, when you wake up with tabloids buzzing with headlines of Taliban's takeover of Kabul and images of people holding their young ones chasing humanitarian airplanes in desperation, on one side, while on the other, images of reeling Haiti after a devastating earthquake.”
She continues, “This is where I found my inspiration. I wanted to write about human suffering, but also wanted to address the social justice system and the imbalance created by lack of education, economic, and human rights. I wanted to voice out the unspoken moral dilemma that observers or adjudicators, people like me and you, often go through.”
After surviving harsh winters of Asia, Europe and America and bloody summers of Africa and Australia; after tasting sweat, blood and tears of Tokyo, Washington D.C., Rome, New York, New Delhi, Cairo, and Addis Ababa, Bundel decided it was time to create “a delectable cocktail of poetic expression and activism. So here I am, advocating for migrants, refugees, women, children, people of color, trees, and book lovers.”
Urvashi’s latest poem on the Ukraine refugee crisis is now available in a beautifully designed A4-size poster. Contact the author to receive a signed copy.
Reedsy Discovery also says, “Urvashi sensitively and deftly plays with complex ideas such as immigration as well as human rights. Her voice seems to turn into a clarion call for other colored women to come out and speak up.”
A Goodreads reader said of the collection, “I really love the illustrations, which add a very unique touch to this book. My favorite poem is ‘A Tiger’s Shadow.’”
Some days I stand out
For reasons so cherished.
On other days I’m out of this world.
And those days, as I recall, are
Every day!
UNAPOLOGETICALLY FEMINIST is available on Amazon3, on Amazon Kindle Unlimited (KU) and other popular retail outlets where books are sold.
URVASHI BUNDEL is an international law specialist, social entrepreneur, and a humanitarian. She is the first Indian recipient of Monbukagakusho (MEXT) honor via Global Business Leaders' Program by the Japanese government. Urvashi holds both national and international-level accolades in arts and creative writing. Urvashi holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University SAIS (Italy/ USA) and Ritsumeikan University, APU (Japan) and academic recognitions from Leiden University (the Netherlands) and The Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School (Australia).
Being a Johns Hopkins University SAIS alum and former humanitarian at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), she continues to hold a strong spirit to vocalize social causes related with women rights and equality through poetic expression. In the past, her poems have been published in several print and online publications, including, UNHCR forum, News Decoder, ROOSTERGNN Global News Network, and Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP). The most recent one is Citadel of American Democracy. For more details, visit https://www.urvashibundel.com.
Urvashi Bundel
Urvashi Bundel, Author
unapologeticallyfem@gmail.com
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1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578382164
2 https://www.urvashibundel.com/about-me
3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578382164