Bashabi Fraser
Bashabi Fraser CBE | |
---|---|
Born | 1954 (age 69–70) Purulia,West Bengal,India |
Occupation(s) | Poet, children's writer, editor, translator, academic |
Website | bashabifraser |
Bashabi FraserCBE(born 1954) is an Indian-born Scottish academic, editor, translator, and writer. She is a Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing atEdinburgh Napier Universityand an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Literary Studies (ALS), Scotland, and a formerRoyal Literary FundFellow.[1]She has authored and edited 23 books, published several articles and chapters, both academic and creative and as a poet.
Early life and education
[edit]Born inPurulia,West Bengal,India,[2]Bashabi Fraser moved to the United Kingdom when she was young. Her mother Anima was awarded a scholarship to theLondon School of Economicsand her father Bimalendu Bhattacharya became the firstCommonwealth Scholarfrom India hosted in the UK. A friend of Fraser's parents in the UK, Julian Dakin, would bring books for her and read them with her. Fraser would write poetry for him and he would later enter the poems for the Commonwealth Scholar Award, without her parents' knowledge, which resulted in Fraser winning its first prize.[3]
Fraser returned to India where her parents worked at the newly openedNorth Bengal University.[3]She attended St. Helen's Convent,KurseonginDarjeelingand later earned a BA in English fromLady Brabourne College,University of Calcuttaand an MA in English fromJadavpur University,both inKolkata.She pursued a PhD in English from the University of Calcutta andUniversity of Edinburgh,Scotlandas aCommonwealth Fellow.[2][1]She was introduced to her future husband, Neil, while completing her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. She moved toEdinburghfollowing their wedding.[3]
Career
[edit]Fraser was Professor of English and Creative Writing atEdinburgh Napier Universityand became Professor Emerita at the institution after retirement. She is co-founder and director of the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies (ScoTs). She is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Literary Studies (ALS), Scotland, and a formerRoyal Literary FundFellow.[1][4]
Fraser specialises inpostcolonial literatureandtheory.Her profile on the ScoTs website states that "Her research and writing reflect her interest indiasporicthemes: the intermeshings of culture and identity, of dislocation and relocation, of belonging and otherness, of memory and nostalgia, of third space and hybridity and of conflicts and freedoms. "[1]She is chief editor ofGitanjali and Beyond,an academic and creative peer-reviewed online journal associated with ScoTs,[5]and is on the editorial board of WritersMosaic, a platform for writers of colour which is an initiative of the Royal Literary Fund.[6]
Fraser has been described as "chief ideator" of the Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, an organisation made up of various creative individuals and formed in 2017 under the KolkataIndian Council for Cultural Relations.[7]
Honors and awards
[edit]Fraser was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empirein the2021 New Year Honoursfor services to education, culture and cultural integration in Scotland, in particular her projects linking Scotland and India.[2][8]TheSaltire Societynamed her an Outstanding Woman of Scotland in 2015.[9]
Works
[edit]As author
[edit]- — (1997).Life.London: Diehard.ISBN9780946230440.
- — (2001).With Best Wishes from Edinburgh.Calcutta: Writers Workshop.ISBN9788175958517.[10]
- — (2004).Just One Diwali Night: A Children's Story.Kolkata: Das Gupta & Co.ISBN9788182110045.
- — (2004).Tartan & Turban.Edinburgh: Luath.ISBN9781842820445.
- — (2004).Topsy Turvy.Kolkata: Das Gupta & Co.ISBN9788182110052.
- — (2009).From the Ganga to the Tay: a poetic conversation between the Ganges and the Tay.Edinburgh: Luath.ISBN9781906307950.
- — (2011).Scots Beneath the Banyan Tree: Stories from Bengal.Edinburgh: Owl and Lion.ISBN9780956808103.
- — (2012).Ragas and Reels: Visual and Poetic Stories of Migration and Diaspora.Edinburgh: Luath.ISBN9781908373342.
- — (2015).Letters to My Mother and Other Mothers.Edinburgh.ISBN9781910745144.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - — (2017).The Homing Bird.Halwill, Beaworthy: Indigo Scotland.ISBN9781910834343.
- — (2019).My Mum's Sari.Word Waves. Bright Button Productions.
- — (2019).The Ramayana: A Stage Play and A Screen Play.Jaipur, India: Aadi Publications.ISBN978-93-87799-28-8.
- — (2019).Rabindranath Tagore.Critical Lives. London:Reaktion Books.ISBN9781789141498.[11]
- — (2021).Patient Dignity.Edinburgh: Scotland Street Press.ISBN9781910895542.[12][13]
As editor
[edit]- —; Clark, Helen; Dick, Lorraine, eds. (1996).Peoples of Edinburgh: Our Multicultural City, personal narratives, experiences, and photographs.City of Edinburgh Council.
- —; Clark, Helen; Connan, Joyce, eds. (1999).Peoples of Edinburgh: Methodology and Evaluation.City of Edinburgh Council and Workers Educational Association.
- —; Grieg, Elaine, eds. (2000).Edinburgh: an Intimate City, an illustrated anthology of contemporary poetry on Edinburgh.Dept. of Recreation, City of Edinburgh Council.ISBN978-0905072937.
- —;Chatterjee, Debjani,eds. (2003).Rainbow World: Poems from Many Cultures.London: Hodder Wayland.ISBN978-0750242806.
- —, ed. (2004).The Tagore-Geddes Correspondence.Kolkata: Visva-Bharati.ISBN9788175223738.
- —, ed. (2006).Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter.London: Anthem Press.ISBN978-1843312994.
- —; Mukherjee, Tapati; Sen, Amrit, eds. (2017).Scottish Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance: The Continuum of Ideas.Santiniketan: Visva-Bharati.ISBN9788175226517.
- —; Mukherjee, Tapati; Sen, Amrit, eds. (2017).A Confluence of Minds: The Rabindranath Tagore and Patrick Geddes Reader on Education and Environment.
- —;Riach, Alan,eds. (2017).Thali Katori, An Anthology of Scottish and South Asian Poetry.Edinburgh.ISBN978-1912147090.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[14]
References
[edit]- ^abcd"Professor Bashabi Fraser: Director of The Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies".Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies.Retrieved12 November2022.
- ^abc"Bengal-born poet bags top UK honour".The Statesman.25 January 2021.Retrieved9 September2022.
- ^abcChakrabarti, Debanjan (21 February 2021)."Rewriting colonial past through culture".The Telegraph.Retrieved17 November2022.
- ^"Bashabi Fraser, CBE".Royal Literary Fund.Retrieved3 September2022.
- ^"Editorial Board".Gitanjali and Beyond.Retrieved3 September2022.
- ^"Team members".Writers Mosaic.Retrieved3 September2022.
- ^Chatterji, Shoma A (15 July 2018)."Unbridled expression of inner-self".The Statesman.Retrieved17 May2023.
- ^"Staff recognised in New Year Honours".University of Edinburgh.Retrieved3 September2022.
- ^"Sturgeon makes saltire society list".Glasgow Times.9 March 2015.Retrieved6 November2022.
- ^Upadhyay, Anjla (2003). "Review of With Best Wishes From Edinburgh Poetry collection".Indian Literature.47(2 (214)).Sahitya Akademi:222–224.ISSN0019-5804.JSTOR23341409.
- ^Reviews ofRabindranath Tagore:
- Chatterji, Aditi (8 March 2021). "Traversing space with Rabindranath Tagore: Rabindranath Tagore, by Bashabi Fraser, London, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2019, 248 pp., £11.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781789141498".Postcolonial Studies:1–3.doi:10.1080/13688790.2021.1894675.S2CID233773530.
- Kämpchen, Martin (4 March 2022). "Critical lives: Rabindranath Tagore: by Bashabi Fraser, London, Reaktion Books, 2019, 248 pp., £11.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781789141498".Journal of Postcolonial Writing.58(2): 284–285.doi:10.1080/17449855.2021.1997227.S2CID244905196.
- Sen, Sudeep(2 August 2019)."'The spoils of separation, the price of disentangling'".The Asian Age.Retrieved17 May2023.
- Mandal, Somdatta (3 April 2021)."Bashabi Fraser's Critical Lives: Rabindranath Tagore".The Daily Star.Retrieved9 September2022.
- ^Riach, Alan(7 February 2022)."Alan Riach: Poetry books to bring pleasure amid self-serving politics".The National.Retrieved9 September2022.
- ^Duncan, Lesley (21 February 2022)."Lesley Duncan - Poem of the week: We will meet again".The Herald.Retrieved17 May2023.
- ^"Poets launch anthology of Scottish and South Asian Poetry".The Scotsman.24 August 2017.Retrieved9 September2022.
External links
[edit]- Living people
- 1954 births
- Scottish women poets
- Scottish women academics
- Academics of Edinburgh Napier University
- Lady Brabourne College alumni
- University of Calcutta alumni
- Jadavpur University alumni
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- People from Purulia district