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 an Indian-American poet, filmmaker, and author of six poetry collections, including ‘Love Letters to Ukraine from Uyava’ (River Paw Press), a finalist at the 2023 ‘International Book Awards’; Trespassing My Ancestral Lands (2024, Finishing Line Press); and Bare Soul, the recipient of the 2017 ‘Naji Naaman Literary Prize.’ She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and other awards. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming in notable journals such as World Literature Today, Columbia Journal, The Los Angeles Review, Poetry International, Tupelo Quarterly, The Colorado Review, The Laurel Review, Cold Mountain Review, Indian Literature, Vsesvit, Silk Routes (IWP) at the University of Iowa, and Stanford University’s Life in Quarantine. Kalpna Singh-Chitnis has been referenced in renowned publications such as The New York Times and The Huffington Post, and featured in The Telegraph, OC Register, Los Angeles Times, and Daily Pilot. Kalpna’s poems have been translated into twenty-one languages such as Ukrainian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Albanian, Czech, Arabic, Nepali, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, etc. She has appeared on major broadcasting platforms like ABC Channel 7, Voice of America, Fox News, India’s National TV Network Doordarshan, KPFK Radio, and other television and radio networks. Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is also the recipient of the ‘Bihar Rajbhasha Parishad Award’ given by the government of Bihar, India, and her poetry has earned praise from eminent writers such as Dr. Wazir Agha, a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature; Amrita Pritam, recipient of the Vaptsarov Award and Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; and Gulzar, a poet, Academy Award-winning lyricist, and filmmaker. She has read at the International Literature Festival Berlin (ilb), Sahitya Akademi—India’s highest academy of letters, Poets & Writers, AWP Conferences, and other international venues. Kalpna’s poems and her poetry film ‘River of Songs,’ included in the Lunar Codex, traveled to the Moon’s south pole with NASA-SpaceX-Intuitive Machine missions in 2024. A former lecturer of Political Science and Editor-in-Chief of ‘Life and Legends,’ she is also an Advocacy Member at the United Nations Association of the USA and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood.
ANTHOLOGIES AND TRANSLATIONS
100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury, India), Unseen (Skylark Publications, UK), Nur Mélange, Collateral Damage, Carrying the Branch Poets in Search of Peace (Glass Lyre Press, USA), Sunflowers: Ukrainian Poetry on War, Resistance, Hope and Peace, Oxygen: Parables of the Pandemic, Paws Healing the Earth (River Paw Press), The Mountain Was Abuzz (Sabre and Quill) and others.
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis has also translated the works of renowned Hindi Poets such as Kedarnath Singh, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Uday Prakash, Vishnuchandra Sharma, and several classic and modern Ukrainian poets’ works. Her English translations of Hindi poetry have appeared in notable literary journals.
DIGITAL, PRINT MEDIA, RADIO, TELEVISION AND FESTIVAL APPEARANCES
Kalpna Singh Chitnis has been mentioned in The New York Times, The 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.
MISSIONS TO THE MOON
Kalpna’s poems and her poetry film ‘River of Songs,’ included in the Lunar Codex, traveled to the Moon’s south pole with NASA-SpaceX-Intuitive Machine missions in 2024. Her poetry archived in the Lunar Codex is also set to go on yet another Lunar mission in 2025
It may or may not be a coincidence that Kalpna’s first poetry collection, “Chand Ka Paivand,” written in her native language Hindi, and published at age 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 postgraduate 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 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 short films “The Tree” and “Girl With An Accent,” she was 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.”
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Advocacy Member of the United Nations Association of the USA and 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.
