Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems
Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems
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Anandibai Joshee (1865-87) was not only India's first female physician, but also the first Indian woman to travel across the forbidden 'black waters' and pursue an education in the United States - with the help of a kind American ally.
Author: Shikha Malaviya
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harpercollins India
Publication date: July 16, 2023
Pages: 136
Language: English
ISBN: 978-9356994072
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SALA Festival 2026
26 & 27 September 2026
Author and poet Shikha Malaviya in conversation about Writing on the Side at SALA 2026
About the Book
The poems in Shikha Malaviya's Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems are a chronological rendering of Anandibai's life-from her birth and childhood in the bustling town of Kalyan in Maharashtra and her marriage to an eccentric man sixteen years older, to early childbirth and the loss of her infant, from which her desire to become a doctor was born.
With elegance and a stark beauty, these poems bring to life the struggles and accomplishments of a woman who travelled across the seas to pursue a medical education before her return to India as a doctor. While her adventures were cut short by tragedy, her story lives on through these poems that thunder from across the decades with a voice that cannot be silenced.
About the Author
Shikha Malaviya considers herself a morpher, having been born in the U.K. and raised in the U.S. and India. She is the founder of The (Great) Indian Poetry Project, an initiative to document, preserve and promote the legacy of modern Indian poetry. Her book of poems, Geography of Tongues, was launched in December 2013 by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective.
Shikha is deeply involved in the poetry community through events/initiatives such as organizing ‘100 Thousand Poets for Change—Bangalore’ in 2012 and 2013; co-founding ‘Poetry in Public India,’ a movement to bring powerful verse by Indian women to public places across India; and giving a TEDx talk on ‘Poetry in Daily Life’ at TEDx Golf Links Park, Bangalore, 2013. Shikha’s poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She also founded Monsoon Magazine, the first South Asian literary magazine on the web.
Shikha graduated from the University of Minnesota with BA and MA degrees in creative writing, mass communications and liberal studies. She currently lives in Bangalore, India, with her husband and two children.