Basanta Kumar Kar

Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal interviewed Basanta Kumar Kar for the latest issue of the Houston Literary Review. Here is an excerpt:

"NKA: Why did you choose English as the medium of your poetic expression? Any special reasons for this choice?

BKK: I am a student of English literature apart from having degrees in Law and Management from a premier rural management institute. Hence writing in English comes easily to me. It is an international language and has large diverse readership. Moreover the overwhelming response from these diverse readers have reinforced and encouraged me to write in this language.

NKA: Have you also written something in your native language? Which mode of poetic expression do you prefer—native or alien? Please make an argument.

BKK: I have published poems in English language. Yes, I have plans to write in my mother tongue, Oriya. I am of the view that both the modes of poetic expression are important and that each one has its own uniqueness."

Basanta Kumar Kar is a very interesting fellow. Like some other poets, he is heavily involved in development work, but unlike even those poets, he uses poetry to do development work. His latest collection of poems, The Unfold Pinnacle, has been well-received.