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Praise for the Poetry of Sweta Srivastava Vikram

“Vikram’s wordsmithing is outstanding. I have read much poetry and have never seen such creativeness as that of this author. She allows her words to flow with rhythm and deepness. The wisdom that comes through her is beyond any I’ve seen.”

—Irene Watson, Reader Views

“In Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors, Sweta Srivastava Vikram re-appropriates color. Cultures and mythologies collide along the way, and the result is a chapbook that feels like a quest. In the end, the colors are a map to identity. The child’s pink tonsils or the bride’s red sari are not symbols, but rather mile markers. Like Vikram’s poems, they lead toward understanding.”

—Erica Wright, Senior Poetry Editor, Guernica

“This slim chapbook is a quick bite. Poems appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, but linger in consciousness longer than you might think they would. The use of colors is fascinating to the desi mind; we, as one poem remarks, ‘exist in a hue of experiences.’”

—Vidya Pradhan, Editor, India Currents

“This chapbook is the dazzling display of a poet who teases us with fresh imagery and delicate linguistic craftsmanship. The real joy of this collection is its potential to be read in a single sitting, multiple times, with each subsequent reading revealing new insights. For poetry virgins, this text demands no sophisticated knowledge of poetics and literary discourse. To put simply, it is an accessible piece of enjoyable writing.”

—Orchid Tierney, Editor, Rem Magazine, New Zealand

“I dove into this book of poems quickly and eagerly, then slowed down to savor the words and the images, marveling over Sweta Srivastava Vikram’s unique mix of grace, humor, and eloquence, which forms a medley of beauty and color.”

—Susan Ortlieb, Suko’s Notebook

“Sweta has woven such a spell with her word usage and the symbolisms that the most complex becomes the simplest of all.”

—Smita Singh, VAANI, UK

“I’m glad I found a new South Asian author, and will be following Vikram’s work closely in the future.”

—Swapna Krishna

“Sweta Srivastava Vikram’s Because All Is Not Lost: Verse On Grief shares her personal loss and, in return, comforts the reader. Her beautifully crafted poems take the reader on a voyage that has to be undertaken by each of us individually.”

—Patricia Carragon, Brownstone Poets

“....there is a bit of defiance in her words as the color beige takes over in old age and she fights to remain red, youthful. Overall, Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors is an even stronger chapbook poetry collection than Because All Is Not Lost because it deals more than with just emotion and healing. Sweta Srivastava Vikram is a gifted poet...”

—Serena, Savvy Verse and Wit

“This is a collection populated by a recognizable but richly diverse and dramatic cast of family characters.”

—Mary-Jane Newton, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal

“Sweta’s poetic voice flows like water smoothing and shaping stones. With great skill she uncovers, sometimes tenderly and other times more forcefully, the shroud of fog surrounding the feminine archetype... she has created and nurtured a garden, a wordscape, in which trust and healing can flourish.”

—Nick Purdon, author The Road-shaped Heart

“Sweta Srivastava Vikram holds her work close. Fold it one way, a poem of loss appears. Fold it yet again for a poem of longing. Her work is as structurally sound as the elements. It soars with anticipation. Vikram reveals lovely and powerful poems that will long linger.”

—Doug Mathewson, Editor, Blink-Ink