Book Description

In The Yak Dilemma, Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal ventures out of the mountain ranges of Palampur and across vast distances of land and sea. From scenes playing out through Dublin windows to ruminating on wearing a Sadri in the West, these innovative mediations are as much about personal identity as they are a testament to the human spirit’s drive to cross territory and forge a ‘map’ of our own. Kaur Dhaliwal’s map, if she has one, is without architecture or foundations; ‘Four walls don’t make a home or a house—it takes some doing’, she writes in Ghazal on Living in a Hotel in Downtown Cairo. She is part of a dynamic new generation of poets pushing the medium into exciting new areas by questioning the notion of ‘place’ and its effect on our bodies—including the human spirit and memory. Uprooted and unsettled, her lyrical voice generously outlines ‘home’ as something other than a physical place. The Yak Dilemma is a remarkable poetic journey, its words create new territories by carefully revealing the fragile spaces that fall in between. ‘Dhaliwal writes with a rich fluency of tongues, evoking pathos and pleasure in equal measure.’ — Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, author of Auguries of a Minor God ‘Dhaliwal is an important and vibrantly exciting new voice in poetry.’ — Rebecca Tamás, author of WITCH and Strangers ‘These are songs of belonging and of movement, of fluid identity, carefully crafted and always graceful.’ — Seán Hewitt, author of Tongues of Fire ‘Dhaliwal’s writing is evocative, thrilling, and magnificent.’ — Zeba Talkhani, author of My Past is a Foreign Country ‘A heartfelt, entertaining debut’ — André Naffis-Sahely, author of The Promised Land: Poems from Itinerant Life 'Kaur Dhaliwal travels through time and space and the self; I wanted to go wherever she was heading.’ — Jen Calleja, author of Goblins ‘The Yak Dilemma is beautiful, transportative and so deeply felt.’ – Lucia Osborne-Crowley, author of I Choose Elena ‘The Yak Dilemma asks: why risk myopia, when we can move forward—and unfold?’ — Sana Goyal, Poetry London ‘a collection which inspires a complex mix of pathos, longing, curiosity and joy.’ — Rober Greer, Idler ‘an illuminating exercise about the self and our surroundings’ — Nidhi Verma, Platform