Bhanu Kapil (born 1968)[1] is a British-born poet and author of Indian descent. She is best known for her books The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (2001), Incubation: A Space for Monsters (2006), and Ban en Banlieue (2015).
Kapil was born in 1968[1] outside of London[3] to Indian parents.[4] In 1990, she moved to the United States,[4] then returned to England in 2019.[3] She presently spends her time in both the United Kingdom and the United States.[1]
Kapil's first book, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, was written in the late 1990s.[5] She has cited Salman Rushdie's 1980 Booker Prize win as a formative experience for her, saying "Perhaps then, for the first time, I understood that someone like me: could. Could look like me and write."[6] In early 2015, The Believer held a round-table discussion of her work over the course of three days.[7]
2009's Humanimal: A Project for Future Children took its inspiration from the nonfiction account of Amala and Kamala, two girls found "living with wolves in colonial Bengal."[8]Douglas A. Martin has described Incubation: A Space For Monsters as "a feminist, post-colonial On the Road."[9] Kapil also contributed the introduction to Amina Cain's short story collection I Go To Some Hollow.[10] Her public readings have elements of performance art.[11] Her poetry appeared in a collection edited by Brian Droitcour that was produced as part of the New Museum's 2015 Triennial.[12]
Incubation: A Space for Monsters was a Small Press Distribution best-seller.[14]Ban en Banlieue was named one of Time Out New York's most anticipated books of early 2015.[15]
^ ab"Bhanu Kapil". Master's in Leadership for Sustainability (MS) | UVM Rubenstein School. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.