Zilka Joseph: Beauty, Chaos & The Human Condition

Pushcart nominee and 2016 finalist for the Foreword Indie Book Award, Zilka Joseph shares selections published in Mantis, Frontier Poetry and anthologies like Cheers To Muses: Works by Asian American Women (AAWAA Press, 2007), as well as from her own collections, tonight at Curley's.

Born in Bombay, raised in Calcutta and a resident of Auburn, Michigan since 1997, Zilka lays out through her work the emotionally-complex experiences and sensory observations of the life of a Jewish Indian spanning the Eastern world and the American Midwest, be it the history of the sari, mortality as it impacts people, bees, elephants and goddesses, the loss of Eden, or, as the reading below recounts from 2010's Midwest Literary Walk Community Open Mic, the varied meaning and applications of individually- and publicly-declared blessings:

Besides placing work in numerous journals, including Poetry Daily, Kenyon Review and Gastronomica, Zilka has also published Sharp Blue Search Of Flame (Wayne State University Press, 2016), Lands I Live In (Mayapple Press, 2007) and What Dread from Finishing Line Press; the latter two were nominated for PEN America and Pushcart Awards, respectively.

On a highly visual note is 2011's India: A Light Within, an interdisciplinary project co-written with Neem Bipin Avashia, featuring the remarkable imagery of Carnegie Mellon University's Charlee Brodsky; Light is a companion publication to a 2009 presentation of photography, Indian classical dance, prose and poetry held at the University of Michigan's Duderstadt Gallery in Ann Arbor.

Zilka teaches creative writing and is a freelance editor and manuscript coach. You can find out about her appearances, collaborations, workshop activities and more at www.zilkajoseph.com.