{{Short description|Indian poet, writer and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use British English|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox writer | name = Jayant Kashyap | image = frameless|upright=0.85 | image_size = | alt = | caption = Kashyap in 2023 | pseudonym = | birth_date = | birth_place = | occupation = Poet,<br/>Academic | years_active = 2017–present | language = English | relatives = Pushpesh Kashyap (brother)<ref name="tfa"/> | nationality = {{IND}}n | citizenship = | education = BSc (Hons), 2023,<ref name="tmr">{{Cite web |title=Unearthing Meaning: Jayant Kashyap and 'Notes on Burials' |url=https://themadridreview.com/blog/f/unearthing-meaning-jayant-kashyap-and-notes-on-burials |website=The Madrid Review |date=2025-07-01 |access-date=2025-09-04 |lang=en-GB}}{{Dead link|date=November 2025}}</ref><br/>MTech, 2025 | alma_mater = Indian Institute of Technology Indore <small>MTech</small> | genre = Poetry,<br/>Creative nonfiction | notableworks = [https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/product/notes-on-burials/ ''Notes on Burials''],<br/>[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/158131/finding-home/ 'Finding Home'],<br/>[https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/uncategorized/a-positively-violent-poem-in-five-parts/ 'A Positively Violent Poem in Five Parts']<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashyap |first=Jayant |chapter=A Positively Violent Poem in Five Parts |pages=19–20 |isbn=9781911046622 |year=2026 |title=The earth that whispers at my feet: Poems from the People Need Nature challenges on Young Poets Network |url=https://issuu.com/poetrysociety/docs/the_earth_that_whispers_at_my_feet_poems_from_the |publisher=The Poetry Society |location=London |access-date=2026-02-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="where were you when the seas were warming?": Young poets speak out against climate injustice at COP26 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/21-PressRelease-TPS-at-COP26-FINAL.pdf |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=The Poetry Society |date=2021-10-01 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> | awards = Toto Award for Creative Writing 2025,<br/>The Poetry Business New Poets Prize 2024 | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL| https://www.giantketchup.wordpress.com/}} | portaldisp = }}
'''Jayant Kashyap''' is an India-based<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brigley |first=Zoë |title=Reflecting on the Poetry Wales Winter Holiday Reading 28th November: Economic Stress |url=https://poetrywales.co.uk/poetry-wales-winter-holiday-reading-for-summer-2023-zoe-brigley-reflects/ |website=Poetry Wales |date=2023-11-28 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> poet. He is the author of three pamphlets, including ''Notes on Burials'', for which he won the Poetry Business New Poets Prize in 2024.<ref>{{Cite journal |editor-last=Goyal |editor-first=Sana |title=Among the Contributors |pages=140–143 |date=2025-08-21 |doi=10.1080/02690055.2025.2514334 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02690055.2025.2514334 |journal=Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing |issue=3 |volume=40 |publisher=Taylor & Francis / Informa UK Limited |access-date=2026-04-06|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 2025, he received a Toto Award for Creative Writing.
==Education== Kashyap has a bachelor's degree in microbiology, and an MTech degree in biomedical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Indore.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Convocation Report 2025 |website=IIT Indore |url=https://www.iiti.ac.in/public/storage/Report/convocation/IITI%20Convocation%20Report%202025.pdf |access-date=2025-09-04 |lang=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jayant Kashyap |url=https://madrascourier.com/author/jayantkashyap/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Madras Courier |date=9 November 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Career== Kashyap began writing poetry in 2012,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Jayant Kashyap |journal=Rigorous |year=2018 |url=https://rigorous-mag.com/v2i2/jayant-kashyap.html |access-date=2025-09-07 |volume=2 |issue=2 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> and has been publishing actively since 2017,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title="The Best Place for Young Poets": YPN at 10 |url=https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/features/the-best-place-for-young-poets-ypn-at-10/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Young Poets Network |language=en-GB}}</ref> but his work was first noticed in the following year, with his poem 'From Bletchley With Love' winning in the Bletchley Park poetry challenge on The Poetry Society's Young Poets Network.<ref>{{Cite web |title=From Bletchley With Love |url=https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/from-bletchley-with-love/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Young Poets Network |language=en-GB}}</ref> Since then, he has published work in popular journals such as ''Poetry'', ''Denver Quarterly'', ''Poetry London'', ''New Welsh Review'',<ref>{{Cite book |title=New Welsh Reader |date=September 2023 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=n0vSEAAAQBAJ |access-date=2025-01-13 |language=en-GB |last1=Griffiths |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Davies |first2=Gwen |last3=Cleaver |first3=Katherine |issue=133 |publisher=New Welsh Review |isbn= 9781913830236}}</ref> ''Poetry Northwest'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kashyap |first=Jayant |editor-last=Kuipers |editor-first=Keetje |title=Incarnation |page=20 |journal=Poetry Northwest |issn=0032-2113 |url=https://www.poetrynw.org/issues/summer-fall-2025/ |volume=20 |issue=1 |year=2025 |access-date=2025-09-01 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> and ''Wasafiri''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kashyap |first=Jayant |editor-last=Goyal |editor-first=Sana |title=Eve |page=10-11 |journal=Wasafiri |publisher=Taylor & Francis |doi=10.1080/02690055.2025.2497625 |year=2025 |volume=40 |number=3 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> Yashasvi Vachhani, writing about a set of poems published in ''The Bombay Literary Magazine'', observes that "the reader does not even realise when they step out of their own skin to merge with the bird on the page."<ref>{{Cite web |title='Bird, at the Stroke of Midnight' and other poems |url=https://bombaylitmag.com/bird-at-stroke-of-midnight/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=The Bombay Literary Magazine |date=8 April 2023 |language=en-GB}}</ref> ''The Bombay Literary Magazine'' also published Kashyap's poem about his namesake Jayanta, son of Indra, which Aswin Vijayan, the magazine's associate poetry editor, noted as an introduction of his "crow into the tradition of crows in anglophone Indian poetry", alongside the work of such poets as Arun Kolatkar.<ref>{{Cite web |title='The Right Kind of Stealing' and Other Poems |url=https://bombaylitmag.com/issue58-jayant-kashyap/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=The Bombay Literary Magazine |date=12 August 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Kashyap, who has worked as a ghostwriter,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Contributor Spotlight: Interview with Jayant Kashyap |date=November 2022 |url=https://rappahannockreview.com/issue-10-1/10-1-interviews/jayant-kashyap/ |issue=10.1 |journal=Rappahannock Review |access-date=2026-01-28}}</ref> has also translated poetry, including in response to a challenge organised by Young Poets Network and ''Modern Poetry in Translation'' in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Young poets translate Isthmus Zapotec poet Irma Pineda |website=The Poetry Society |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/young-poets-translate-isthmus-zapotec-poet-irma-pineda/ |date=2021-09-09 |access-date=2025-09-06 |lang=en-GB}}</ref>
=== Acclaim === Poet Julie Sampson praised Kashyap's "ability to match emotion with poetic-skill".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spring Showcase – March 2019 |url=https://www.poetryspace.co.uk/2019/02/spring-showcase-march-2019/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Poetry Space Ltd |date=28 February 2019 |language=en-GB |author1=Sues }}</ref> In 2021, his poem 'A Positively Violent Poem in Five Parts', the second prize winner in the Poems to Solve the Climate Crisis challenge on Young Poets Network,<ref>{{Cite web |title=People Need Nature/Young Poets Network Fourth Poetry Challenge. Winners and highly commended poems in "Poems to solve the Climate Crisis." |url=https://peopleneednature.org.uk/people-need-nature-young-poets-network-fourth-poetry-challenge-winners-and-highly-commended-poems-in-poems-to-solve-the-climate-crisis/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=People Need Nature |date=30 September 2021 |language=en-GB}}</ref> was exhibited at COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Poems to Solve the Climate Crisis: Prize-Winning Young Poets to Perform at COP26 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/poems-to-solve-the-climate-crisis-prize-winning-young-poets-to-perform-at-cop26/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=The Poetry Society |date=2021-10-01 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Poetry for the Climate: COP26 |url=https://peopleneednature.org.uk/poetry-for-the-climate-cop26/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=People Need Nature |date=5 November 2021 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The UK Department for Education-commissioned Education Nature Park project's KS4 'Poetry and nature' resource features this poem,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Poetry power |url=https://www.educationnaturepark.org.uk/resource/poetry-power |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=National Education Nature Park |language=en-GB}}</ref> and it has been analysed in several peer-reviewed articles.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Introduction |pages=5–6 |isbn=9781911046622 |year=2026 |title=The earth that whispers at my feet: Poems from the People Need Nature challenges on Young Poets Network |url=https://issuu.com/poetrysociety/docs/the_earth_that_whispers_at_my_feet_poems_from_the |publisher=The Poetry Society |location=London |access-date=2026-02-25}}</ref> In an essay titled 'Planetary precarity in performance ecopoetry: Poems to solve the climate crisis?' the author Jan Rupp notes Kashyap's poem for its "disjointed, multiperspectival account." Rupp says: {{Blockquote|text="Right from the start, Kashyap's poem pre-empts any idea of easy solutions. Even the young activists must realize that they are implicated in a complex web of human-nature relationality, where replacing swimming pools with trees will not simply restore nature and climate action must be negotiated collectively. [...] As text and performance, this negotiation and collaboration of climate activism – importantly extending beyond the page as the reader navigates a fragmented poetic score – is a process that Kashyap's poem helps engender and move forward, capitalizing on the pragmatics and poetics of performance ecopoetry."<ref>{{cite book |last=Rupp |first=Jan |editor-last1=Wilson |editor-first1=Janet M. |editor-last2=Schmidt-Haberkamp |editor-first2=Barbara |editor-last3=Dwivedi |editor-first3=Om Prakash |date=21 November 2024 |title=Ecocritical Explorations of the Climate Crisis: Planetary Precarity and Future Habitability |chapter=Planetary precarity in performance ecopoetry: Poems to solve the climate crisis? |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003383598-9/planetary-precarity-performance-ecopoetry-jan-rupp |location=New York |publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis) |pages=115–128 |doi=10.4324/9781003383598-9 |isbn=9781003383598 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-01-14}}</ref>}}
Another article on ecopoetry noted Kashyap's poem as "a good example of how a sophisticated structure can be combined with deep thought."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zimina |first1=Evgeniia |last2=Sargsyan |first2=Mariana |title=Artistic response to ecological problems in contemporary English-language ecopoetry |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/artistic-response-to-ecological-problems-in-contemporary-english-language-ecopoetry |pages=243-256 |journal=Tomsk State University Journal of Philology |year=2025 |number=94 |doi-access=free |doi=10.17223/19986645/94/12 |lang=en-GB}}</ref>
In May 2021, his poem '’Twas a long summer of thin air' was the ''Ink Sweat & Tears'' Pick of the Month, with Kate Birch mentioning the poem as having "depth, beauty and nuance".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Birch |first=Kate |title='Twas a long summer of thin air by Jayant Kashyap is the IS&T Pick of the Month for May 2021 |url=https://inksweatandtears.co.uk/ist-pick-of-the-month-may-2021/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Ink Sweat & Tears |date=8 June 2021 |language=en-GB}}</ref> He later won the Young Poets competition at the Wells Festival of Literature for his poem 'Earth, Fire', selected by the poet Phoebe Stuckes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 International Competition Results |date=2021-11-30 |url=https://wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk/competitions-winners/2021/11/30/2021-competitions/ |access-date=2026-01-28 |website=Wells Festival of Literature |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2022 and 2023, his work was praised by the Young Poets Network in partnership with the Portland Japanese Garden<ref>{{Cite web |year=2022 |title=Poetry for Peace |website=The Poetry Society |access-date=2025-09-07 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/projects/poetry-peace/ |lang=en-GB}}</ref> and Suffolk's Britten Pears Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2023 |title=Song Lyric Writing Challenge Winners Announced |website=The Poetry Society |access-date=2025-09-07 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/song-lyric-writing-challenge-winners-announced/ |lang=en-GB}}</ref> In June 2023, in her Introduction of the ''Plumwood Mountain Journal'''s issue titled 'The Transformative Now', guest editor Kristen Lang mentioned his work having the capability to become a "part of the tapestry of a given time."<ref>{{Cite journal |editor-last=Lang |editor-first=Kristen |title=Introduction |url=https://plumwoodmountain.com/poem/introduction-3/ |access-date=2025-09-06 |journal=Plumwood Mountain Journal |volume=10 |number=1 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The same year, Kashyap's poem 'Nilgai' received an honourable mention in the Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets at the ''Atlanta Review''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Carter Rekoske Is the 2023 Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets Winner! |url=http://atlantareview.com/news/carter-rekoske-is-the-2023-dan-veach-prize-for-younger-poets-winner/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Atlanta Review |date=11 October 2023 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Kashyap received the New Poets Prize in 2024,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charlie Jolley highly commended in the New Poets Prize 2024 |url=https://www.hivesouthyorkshire.com/charlie-jolley-npp-2024.html |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Hive South Yorkshire |date=21 July 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref> and a Toto Award for Creative Writing in 2025.<ref name="tfa"/> He was also selected as an ''Acumen'' Young Poet in 2025,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Young Poet: Jayant Kashyap |url=https://acumen-poetry.co.uk/jayant-kashyap-2/ |website=Acumen |date=2025-05-07 |access-date=2025-09-06 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> and is the only India-based winner of both the Wells Festival of Literature's Young Poets competition and the New Poets Prize.
=== Longer works === Kashyap's debut pamphlet ''Survival'' was published by Clare Songbirds Publishing House in 2019 and the second, ''Unaccomplished Cities'', by Ghost City Press in 2020. Vic Pickup, in her review, praised the latter for "revisiting key points of trauma in human history".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Review by Vic Pickup of "Unaccomplished Cities" by Jayant Kashyap |url=https://everybodysreviewing.blogspot.com/2020/09/review-by-victoria-pickup-of.html |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Everybody's Reviewing |date=September 2020 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
After previous shortlistings (2021, '22),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashyap |first=Jayant |chapter=Acknowledgements |title=Notes on Burials |isbn=9781914914959 |publisher=The Poetry Business |location=Sheffield |page=31 |year=2025}}</ref> he was awarded the 2024 Poetry Business New Poets Prize for his third pamphlet ''Notes on Burials'', selected by the poet Holly Hopkins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our 2024 competition winners! |url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/our-2024-competition-winners/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=The Poetry Business |date=2024-07-15 |language=en-GB}}</ref> This collection of nineteen poems "that treat language as a living site"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schneider |first=Jennifer |title=Review of Notes on Burials by Jayant Kashyap |url=https://www.madpoetssociety.com/blog/1/13/2026/review/of/notes/on/burials/by/jayant/kashyap |website=Mad Poets Society |date=2026-01-14 |access-date=2026-01-15}}</ref> was praised for the handling of a variety of styles "in a really accomplished way",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fellows |first=Tim |title=Review – Jayant Kashyap – Notes on Burials |date=2026-02-05 |url=https://timfellowspoetry.substack.com/p/review-jayant-kashyap-notes-on-burials |access-date=2026-02-05 |website=Tim Fellows Poetry}}</ref> noted as a "witness to our greed as a race and the destruction [...] we leave behind",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Notes on Burials with Jayant Kashyap |date=2026-01-12 |website=One Thousand Mornings |access-date=2026-01-12 |url=https://athousandmornings.in/2026/01/12/notes-on-burials-with-jayant-kashyap/}}</ref> and the ''Yorkshire Times'' described it as an "outstanding" collection "travers[ing] borders to encompass both the poet's own experience and the multiplying eye of his focus."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Steve |title=Earth, Fire: ''Notes On Burials'' By Jayant Kashyap |date=2025-12-13 |url=https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Earth-Fire-Notes-On-Burials-By-Jayant-Kashyap |journal=Yorkshire Times |access-date=2025-12-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Whitaker |first=Steve |title=Earth, Fire: ''Notes On Burials'' By Jayant Kashyap |date=2025-12-13 |url=https://chimeo.com/article/Earth-Fire-Notes-On-Burials-By-Jayant-Kashyap |website=Chimeo Limited |access-date=2025-12-14}}</ref> The pamphlet was praised by ''The Madrid Review'', who placed it "alongside the work of Seamus Heaney and Anne Carson",<ref name="tmr"/> and was ''Atrium Poetry'''s featured publication for the months of January and February in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Featured Publication – Notes on Burials by Jayant Kashyap |website=Atrium Poetry |date=2026-01-04 |url=https://atriumpoetry.com/2026/01/04/featured-publication-notes-on-burials-by-jayant-kashyap/ |access-date=2026-01-12}}</ref> The poet Rebecca McCutcheon praised it as a "collection that invites rereading",<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCutcheon |first=Rebecca |title=Notes on Burials |url=https://www.echepoetry.co.uk/reviews/burials |website=eche |date=2025-08-18 |access-date=2025-09-05 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> and Alice Kate Mullen, in the PBS Bulletin, called it a "worthy and thought-provoking winner".<ref>{{Cite journal |editor-last=Mullen |editor-first=Alice (Kate) |title=Pamphlet Reviews |pages=52-53 |journal=Autumn Bulletin |year=2025 |publisher=Poetry Book Society |place=Newcastle upon Tyne |isbn=9781913129811 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> The poet Kim Moore, who judged the competition in 2021, praised this "wonderful pamphlet" for the presence of an occasional "surreal touch to the poems".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Kim |title=January Reading Diary |date=2026-02-09 |url=https://shawandmoore.substack.com/p/january-reading-diary |website=Shaw and Moore |access-date=2026-02-09}}</ref> thumb|right|Cover of Kashyap's ''Notes on Burials''|upright=0.8
Kashyap also published a limited-edition zine ''Water'' with Skear Zines in 2021.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Contributors |journal=Poetry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27400568 |pages=392–394 |volume=220 |number=4 |year=2022 |access-date=2026-02-03}}</ref> It was hailed as "a call to attention."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Water |url=https://app.thestorygraph.com/book_reviews/baedba6c-401e-436d-8ce7-96e072878c53 |website=The StoryGraph |access-date=2025-09-05 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> In an interview by Cheryl Moskowitz, Kashyap noted the Anthropocene as the period when humans can decide what the Earth looks like "in the future."<ref name="mag">{{Cite web |title=What does the Anthropocene mean to you? |url=https://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-81-anthropocene/articles/what-does-the-anthropocene-mean-to-you/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Magma Poetry |language=en-GB}}</ref> His essay, titled 'Writing Water, and on Its Need to Be Written About', was later published in ''The Mersey Review''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Writing Water, and on Its Need to Be Written About |url=https://www.themerseyreview.com/issues/4/writingwater |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=The Mersey Review |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Books==
===Poetry pamphlets=== * ''Survival'' (Clare Songbirds, 2019) * ''Unaccomplished Cities'' (Ghost City Press, 2020) * ''Water'' (Skear Zines, 2021) * ''Notes on Burials'' (The Poetry Business, 2025) {{ISBN|9781914914959}}
==Awards== *2021: First Prize, Young Poets competition, Wells Festival of Literature, for 'Earth, Fire' *2024: The Poetry Business New Poets Prize, for ''Notes on Burials'' *2025: Winner, Toto Awards for Creative Writing in English 2025<ref name="tfa">{{Cite web |title=Toto Awards – Class of 2025 |url=https://totofundsthearts.org/2025/02/toto-awards-class-of-2025.html |website=Toto Funds the Arts |date=2025-02-17 |access-date=2025-09-04 |lang=en-GB}}</ref>
==See also== *List of Indian poets
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/jayant-kashyap/ Poems on the Poetry Society website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashyap, Jayant}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:21st-century Indian poets Category:Indian poets Category:Indian Institutes of Technology alumni Category:Place of birth missing (living people)