Meet the Poet
“Imagine how delightful it would be to really meet someone whose essence radiates deep, heartfelt feelings of joy, wisdom, pain, sorrow, ecstasy and all the facets of the human experience. And how beautiful it could be to have that someone share with you his or her perspective and understanding with such deep integrity, honesty and child-like simplicity that sometimes, you weep bitter tears, or you roll on the grass with uncontrollable laughter and amusement. Only a poet of Kalpna’s caliber could make words sing and dance or weep and mourn all at the same time. She is such a personality who expresses thoughts with feelings, ideas with joy, power with peace and complexity with simplicity.” – John Harricharan, award-winning author of “When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat” and other bestsellers.
BIO
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is a Pushcart Prize nominated, award-winning Indian-American poet, writer, filmmaker, and actor. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends and Translation Editor of IHRAF Literary in New York. She has published four books of poetry, and her works have appeared in notable journals like World Literature Today, Columbia Journal, California Quarterly, Indian Literature, Silk Routes Project (The University of Iowa), Life in Quarantine (Stanford University), etc. Her full-length poetry collection, Bare Soul, was awarded the 2017 “Naji Naaman Literary Prize for Creativity.” Her awards and honors include the “Bihar Rajbhasha Award,” given by the government of Bihar, India, “Bihar Shri,” and the “Rajiv Gandhi Global Excellence Award.” She was also nominated for the “Honor of Yeast Litteraire” by Levure Litterarie magazine in Paris, France, in 2015. She has been recognized by California State Senator Mimi Walter’s office, the Ex-Mayor of Irvine, Steven Choi, and the Irvine Chamber of Commerce for her professional works in the community.
Kalpna’s poetry has received praise from eminent writers, such as Nobel Prize in Literature nominee Dr. Wazir Agha, Vaptsarov Award, and Ordre des Arts et des Lettres recipient Amrita Pritam, and poet and Academy Award winning lyricist, and filmmaker Gulzar. She has read her works at Sahitya Akademi, India’s highest academy of letters, Poets & Writers, AWP Conferences, and other venues internationally. Her works have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, Albanian, Czech, Arabic, Nepali, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, and published in anthologies worldwide. The most recent among them are 100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury, India), Unseen (Skylark Publications, UK), Collateral Damage, Carrying the Branch Poets in Search of Peace (Glass Lyre Press, USA), and Paws Healing the Earth (River Paw Press). Kalpna Singh-Chitnis has also translated the works of renowned Hindi Poets such as Kedarnath Singh, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Uday Prakash, Vishnuchandra Sharma, and others. Her English translations of Hindi poetry have appeared in notable literary journals. A former lecturer of Political Science, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis holds a degree in Film Directing from the New York Film Academy and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood.
DIGITAL, PRINT MEDIA, RADIO, TELEVISION AND FESTIVAL APPEARANCES
Kalpna Singh Chitnis has been mentioned in the New York Times, Huffington Post, and featured in The Telegraph, OC Register, Los Angeles Times, Daily Pilot, OC Weekly, Times of India, Indian Express, Navbharat Times, Deccan Herald, Hans, Pahal, Kadambini, Aajkal, Prabhat Khabar, Dainik Jagran, Aaj, Sabrang, Femina, Care, etc. She has appeared on ABC Channel 7, Voice of America, LA 18, Doordarshan(India’s National Television Network), KPFK Radio (Los Angeles), KPFA (Berkley Station), KUCI, Aakashvani (India’s National Radio), and others. She has participated as a poet, panelist, and moderator at significant platforms like Sahitya Akademi (India’s highest academy of letters), Poets & Writers, and AWP. She has also appeared at several international film and literary festivals.
ON NASA’S MISSIONS TO THE MOON
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis’ poem River of Songs (I-IV) from her poetry collection Bare Soul and the short film “River of Songs” (based on her poem) have been selected to go with two separate NASA missions to the moon in 2022 and 2023. The poem River of Songs, included in the “Nova collection” of the Lunar Codex time capsule, will launch with the June 2022 SpaceX / Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander mission to Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon. The short film “River of Songs,” included in the Polaris collection, Lunar Codex time capsule, will travel to the moon with the 2023 SpaceX / Astrobotic Griffin lander / NASA VIPER rover mission to the Lunar South Pole.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Kalpna’s first poetry collection, “Chand Ka Paivand,” written in her native language Hindi, published at the age of twenty, literally translates as – Patch of Moon.
BACKGROUND
Born and raised in the land of the Buddha, Gaya, Bihar, India, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis began to write poetry at the age of fourteen. She earned a Master’s Degree in Political Science and taught International Relations to Post Graduate students at Gaya College, Gaya, affiliated with Magadh University in Bodhgaya. In 1994, she moved to the United States, leaving behind her promising career as a Lecturer of Political Science, Actor, and a Fashion Model in Mumbai. She lived in Chicagoland for nine years before coming to Los Angeles and pursuing a degree in Film Directing at the New York Film Academy, at the Universal Studios in Hollywood, from where she graduated in 2004. She also participated in the “Silk Routes” project of the International Writing Program at The University of Iowa (2014-2016) and studied “Buddhism Through its Scriptures” at HarvardX (Harvard University).
Known for her feature film “Goodbye My Friend“ and “Girl With An Accent,” she is also the Founder and President of the “Silent River Film and Literary Society,” a 501(C)3 Non-Profit, and the director of the “Silent River Film Festival.” Her latest film “The Tree,” based on her work of poetry, will premiere in 2022.
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is also an Advocacy Member of the United Nations Association of the USA. She is passionate about actively supporting environmental causes, human rights, and animal rights.
LATEST NEWS
कवि परिचय
कल्पना सिंह के हिंदी काव्य-संग्रहों में बिहार राजभाषा परिषद से पुरस्कृत “चाँद का पैवंद”, “तफ़्तीश जारी है” और “निशांत” के नाम उल्लेखनीय हैं। कल्पना सिंह की कविताओं का प्रकाशन भारत और विश्व की प्रमुख साहित्यिक पत्रिकाओं में हुआ है, तथा उनकी रचनाओं का अनुवाद देश-विदेश की कई भाषाओं में किया गया है। अस्सी के दशक से लिख रही कल्पना सिंह की कविताओं, कहानियों और अनुवाद का प्रकाशन “हंस,” “पहल,” “धर्मयुग,” “कादम्बिनी,” “साक्षात्कार,” “वर्तमान साहित्य,” “दस्तावेज़,” “बहुमत” आदि प्रमुख हिंदी पत्रिकाओं में हुआ है। बुद्ध की धरती गया में जन्मी कल्पना सिंह ने मगध विश्वविद्यालय से राजनीति शास्त्र में एम. ए. की शिक्षा प्राप्त की, और कुछ समय के लिए गया कॉलेज, गया, में अध्यापन कार्य भी किया। १९९४ में अमेरिका आने के बाद इन्होंने “न्यूयॉर्क फिल्म अकादमी” से फिल्म निर्देशन की शिक्षा हासिल की, और हार्वर्ड यूनिवर्सिटी (HarvardX) से, “Buddhism Through Its Scriptures” का भी अध्ययन किया। अंग्रेजी में कल्पना सिंह-चिटनिस के नाम से ख्यात इनके काव्य संग्रह “बेयर सोल” को २०१७ में लेबनॉन के “नाजी नामन लिटरेरी प्राइज फॉर क्रिएटिविटी” से सम्मानित किया गया। कल्पना सिंह अंतर्राष्ट्रीय साहित्य पत्रिका “लाइफ एंड लेजेंड्स” तथा “हिंदी लिटरेचर टुडे” की प्रवर्तिका और संपादिका भी हैं। यह बोधगया तथा लॉस एंजेलिस के बीच अपना समय बांटती हैं और वर्तमान समय में अपने अगले काव्य संग्रह “जो तुम हो वही हूँ मैं” तथा केदारनाथ सिंह की कविताओं पर अनुवाद कार्य कर रही हैं।
चंद्र अभियान और सिनेमा
“लूनर कोडेक्स” टाइम कैप्सूल के “नोवा संग्रह” में शामिल कल्पना सिंह के अंग्रेजी काव्य संग्रह “बेयर सोल” से ली गयी चार कविताएं, जून 2022 में “स्पेसएक्स / इंट्यूटिव मशीन नोवा-सी लैंडर मिशन” के साथ चंद्रमा के “ओशनस प्रोसेलरम” पर लॉन्च होगी। “लूनर कोडेक्स” टाइम कैप्सूल के “पोलारिस संग्रह,” में शामिल उनकी कविताओं पर आधारित लघु फिल्म “रिवर ऑफ सॉन्ग”, 2023 में “स्पेसएक्स / एस्ट्रोबोटिक ग्रिफिन लैंडर / नासा वाइपर रोवर मिशन” के साथ चंद्रमा के दक्षिणी ध्रुव की यात्रा करेगी।
कल्पना सिंह-चिटनिस जो अपनी फीचर फिल्म “गुडबाय माय फ्रेंड” तथा लघु फिल्म “गर्ल विथ एन एक्सेंट” के लिए जानी जाती हैं, उनकी नई फिल्म “द ट्री” को २०२२ में अमेरिका के “नॉर्थ डकोटा एन्वॉयरन्मेंटल राइट्स फिल्म फेस्टिवल” में “बेस्ट एक्सपेरिमेंटल शार्ट फिल्म का अवार्ड” मिल चुका है. “द ट्री” अभी विश्व के कई देशों में अनेक अंतर्राष्ट्रीय फिल्म महोत्सवों में दिखाई जा रही है.
