Gopi Kottoor is the third prize winner of Wingword Poetry Prize 2020. He is a poet living in Trivandrum, Kerala. We interviewed him to find out about his writing journey.
Interviewer: What is the inspiration behind your poetry?
Gopi: My childhood was spent in Kerala, where nature is abundant. The real life experiences of my day to day life such as climbing the lemon tree in my backyard or exploring an old haunted house filled with termites prompted me to pick up the pen.
Later my father printed my first book of poems in order to encourage me. I was also introduced to a professional writer who helped me develop my craft with strong criticism. He would strike out 18/20 lines. This helped me understand what works in a poem and what doesn’t.
I soon realized that a poem is never finished; it is only abandoned. An idea which appears in childhood may come back even 15 years later.
Interviewer: How did you come about to write ‘Father’s Shirt’- the winning poem for Wingword Poetry Prize?
Gopi: While my father was in coma, I revisited my child memories surrounding my father as it was a really emotional time. The poem comprises images around his belly and the wire with his hanging shirt.
Interviewer: What advice would you like to offer budding writers?
Gopi: Reading and observation is essential for any poet. When you read poetry, you will learn how to explore your own voice. Poet is the director of his voice. So you must read, write, explore and experience.
Also, you need to know when to cut and revise a poem. Four out of five poems one writes need not be published.
Poetry is a private journey which will become public later. Keeping that in mind, one must think about what will be the effect of the work on the reader? Will it stir shock or surprise? This should be the aim. After all, writing is about making the ordinary extraordinary.
About the Poet
Gopikrishnan Kottoor has won major prizes for poetry such as the All India Poetry Prize (Poetry Society, India) and the All India Special Jury Prize (Poetry Society, India, and The British Council). He has also won several other prizes and nominations for his poetry . His poems have appeared in magazines of repute both in India and abroad such as The Illustrated Weekly of India, Opinion , Debonair, Kavya Bharati, Chandrabhaga, Economic and Political Times, The Hindu, Thought, Quest, Indian Literature, Nth position, UK, Orbis, UK, Mud Season review, USA, North west quarterly USA, Toronto Review, Arabesques, Plaza Japan, Chiaroscuro UK, and others.
His poetry has been translated and published in German , Hindi , Sinhalese, and the Chinese.
His poetry has featured in anthologies such as Verse Seattle,
Bloodaxe book of Contemporary Indian poetry in English,The Golden Jubilee Anthology of Indian Poetry in English, Shakespeare Sonnets, Lie of the Land, Sahitya Akademi, and others.
Gopikrishnan Kottoor was India Guest at the University of Vienna , Austria, and an ICCR nominee for the Foreign Poets Seminar in Tagore Centre, Berlin,Germany.
His major poetry titles include the highly regarded poem sequence, Father, Wake us in Passing (Translated into German, and published in Germany), Mother Sonata, A Buchenwald Diary,Victoria Terminus, Tell Me, Neruda, The Painter of Evenings, Descent Vrindavan The coloured Yolk of love http://gopikottoor.blogspot.com (Radha-krishna poems), Father Benedict Goes to Heaven, My Blue Alzheimier's Sky, Reflections in Silhouette, Tell me Neruda, and ‘My dear Tsunami and other Poems, among others.
His novels are ‘A Bridge Over Karma, Chilanka, the Anklet ,Hill House, Wander(A child's fantasy)and Presumed Guilty, on the life and loves of the fashion designer Anand John.
His dramatic works include ‘ The Mask of Death' ( The final Days of the poet John Keats), Fire in the Soul (The life of the Nationalist poet Subramania Bharati), A woman in Flames, and The Nectar of the Gods,( The life and execution of the Beatified Devasahayam, a soldier in the army of King Marthanda Varma, Tiruvitamkur. Gopi Kottoor made his debut in Malayalam with ‘Jesus Pearl' Yesumuthu, a re-working of his ‘Nectar of the Gods’ based on the life of the beatified Devasahsyam, to much critical acclaim.
He has translated Kukoka's Rati Rahasya and Poontanam.
Gopikrishnan Kottoor has been a poetry reviewer for The Hindu Lit Supplement. His poetry reviews and articles have been featured in Malayalam Manorama Online (Guest writer), Deccan Herald , Deccan Chronicle, The Hindu, New English Quarterly, UK, I mantra, Kavya Bharati and The Economic and Political weekly.
Gopikrishnan Kottoor founded Poetry Chain which, with Dr. Paniker as a mentoring spirit was one of the earliest poetry association for English poetry from Trivandrum Kerala . Its journal with a pan Indian spectrum had an uninterrupted run for twenty years . It first published and brought to light many of the poets now in mainstream Indian English Poetry. It worked in association with Poetry Society, India,and on its own to discover new talent with The Poetry Chain-Poetry Society(India) awards, Father Wake us in passing Poetry Prize, The Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, The Young Talent School Poetry Awards and the Harish Govind Memorial Poetry Prize.
Gopi Kottoor has edited two books of Indian Poetry in English ,‘A New Book of Indian Poems in English’ and ‘ Living Poetry ‘ Seven Contemporary English Poets from Kerala.
He presently edits a newly launched poetry e-zine, www.chipmunk.co.in. Poetry submissions may be sent to chipmunkitnow21@gmail.com
Gopi Kottoor lives in Trivandrum, Kerala .He can be contacted at gopikottoor@gmail.com .Mobile 91 9567424832.