Leeya Mehta writes a bi-monthly column for the Independent on the reading and writing life, "The Company We Keep." She is a prize-winning poet and author of A Story of the World Before the Fence and The Towers of Silence. She is an editor with Plume Poetry. Leeya grew up in Bombay and was a Radhakrishnan Scholar at Oxford University. After travels through the Arctic borderlands and Japan, she now lives in Washington, DC, where she works in international development. She has just finished a novel, Extinction. Discover her latest work here.
[Photo by Michaela Hackner.]
25 entries by Leeya Mehta
A tribute to the writers and editors who nurture our work.
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A poem for the new year.
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Step into other worlds of revolution.
If it’s not yours, you, too, can conjure it.
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Conducting literary diplomacy from a Washington drawing room.
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On reading for illumination.
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Allegories for the writing self.
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Keeping an eye on other people’s poets.
Finding my way — with a little help from William Blake.
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…And other questions for a new year.
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Exploring the artist’s responsibility in times of turmoil.
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Presenting my fall pandemic schedule.
Sharing books from around the world with my children and our friends.
The everyday politics of “there is enough room.”
Putting sacrifice in perspective amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Seeking self-help in the New Year.
Taking Coates into the DC Council Chambers
Reading tips, apps, and so much more
We are all done waiting.
DC’s literary life, venues, & dis-n-dat.
The art of calculating one’s self-worth
Anthems for our time, and remembering a hero
Poetic inspiration for the holidays
Understanding that we are the circumstances.
The center must hold.