Shazea Quraishi
Author · 2 books
Shazea Quraishi is one of a number of younger black and Asian women poets currently gaining ground in UK poetry. In sensual, clear, perfectly measured tones, her poems meet the male gaze with a female voice. Her long poem sequence The Courtesan's Reply ("a wonderful study of gender and expectation" – Poetry Book Society) is based on the courtesans depicted in Manomohan Ghosh's translation of The Caturbhani – four Sanskrit monologue plays written around 300 BC. It is published as a pamphlet by flipped eye publishing and is being developed for stage. Stephen Knight, her mentor, has described it as "an intriguing collision between the archaeological and the lyrical".
