NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS
An award for immigrant writing, an essay contest devoted to tales of Black joy, and new poetry from a longtime Boston resident
By Nina MacLaughlin Globe Correspondent,Updated February 25, 2021, 1:29 p.m.
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Laurels for Mohabir
Restless Books, founded in 2013 as antidote to a myopic and homogenous American literary landscape, recently announced that Rajiv Mohabir, poet and assistant professor at Emerson College, is the winner of their annual Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. Mohabirâs memoir, âAntiman,â which will be published in June, moves across countries â India, Guyana, Canada, the U.S. â and genres â poetry, prose, myth, and family history â to tell the story of his experience growing up across cultures and wanting to learn more about the Hindu history his family, living as Guyanese Indian immigrants in Florida, left behind. He reckons with racism, with homophobia (the title is a Caribbean slur for a man who loves men), and with a pervasive feeling of being an outsider. With tenacity and exuberance, and dancing between a number of languages and dialects, Mohabir comes to claim his own identity, finding firmer footing in the world. Local author Grace Talusanâs acclaimed memoir âThe Body Papersâ won the prize in 2017.