Forward Prize winning Mona Arshi praises 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon'

2015 Forward Prize winner Mona Arshi has praised 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' in an Instagram post. 

When praise pours in from major poets I have looked up to from the earliest juncture of my poetry career, suddenly 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' feels a little unreal. I came to know of Mona Arshi when I first stared writing poetry in 2019. I made a list of all the contemporary poets of note from an Indian subcontinent heritage whom I needed to study. Our first encounter was online as part of Gillian Clarke's week-long poetry masterclass in the early summer of 2020, for which I had been selected as one of the seven poets. The masterclass was to celebrate Gillian's founding of Ty Newydd, the national writing centre now part of Literature Wales.

In 2020 I was still searching for the words and often scared of using them in the order that would be the hallmark of the innovative poetry 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' would become in February 2024. As all starting out poets I was in constant need of reassurance and conferral of belonging to the poetry pantheon. That Gillian Clarke had selected me to be part of such a talented group of poets was the first stamp of acceptance. The star of the group was poet Abeer Ameer, who had already started to gain a reputation for poignant storytelling and would later go on to be shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2022 for her debut poetry collection 'Inhale/Exile' (Seren 2022).

Mona Arshi was the guest reader on the final evening of the masterclass. I remember seeking advice from her on using words from other languages with or without explaining what they meant. There was huge encouragement and I remain grateful.