Teji Grover is a Hindi poet,[1] fiction writer,[2] translator and painter. According to poet and critic Ashok Vajpeyi, "Teji Grover shapes her language away from the prevalent idiom of Hindi poetry. In her poetry language acquires a form which is unique..."[3] Her poems have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages.
Grover's fiction is known for its blending of dream and reality. Polish Hindi scholar Kamila Junik writes about her novel Neela (Blue), "All the characters write. All the events are being written. The existence is being written as well. There is no other world beyond writing."[4]
Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, Nantes, France (2016-2017).[10]
Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award (2019).[11]
The Royal Order of the Polar Star, Member 1st Class, by the King and the Queen of Sweden (2019) for promoting literary and cultural relations between India and Sweden.[12]
Work
Original work
Teji Grover's individual collections of poetry are:
The second edition of the collection Lo Kaha Sambari was published by Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, in 2016 (ISBN978-93-5229-362-9).
The second edition of the collection Maitri was published by Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, in 2020 (ISBN978-93-89915-25-9).
Her selected poems were published in 2021. The volume is titled Kathputli Kee Aankh: Chuni Hui Kavitaen (Surya Prakashan Mandir, Bikaner, 2021); ISBN978-93-87252-94-3.
Her poems also figured in the following books:
Jaise Parampara Sajate Hue (Parag Prakashan, Delhi, 1982), an anthology of poems by three fellow poets; and
Teji aur Rustam Ki Kavitayen (ISBN978-81-7223-879-7),[13] a two-in-one, two-sided book of poems published by HarperCollins India in 2009.
The most recent publication of her poems in Hindi was in the online literary magazine Samalochan.[14]
Grover has published two books of fiction:
a novel Neela (Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 1999; ISBN81-7055-668-6); and
a collection of short stories Sapne Mein Prem Ki Saat Kahanian (Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2009; ISBN9350001136).
The second edition of her novel came out in 2016 (Vani Prakashan, New Delhi; ISBN978-81-7055-668-8).
Grover has published a collection of essays, memoirs and travelogues and another collection of essays on folktales:
Akam se Puram Tak: Lok Kathaon ka Ghar aur Bahar (Eklavya, Bhopal, 2017; ISBN978-93-85236-21-1).[15]
Grover has also published the following book for children:
Man Mein Khushi Paida Karne Wale Rang (ISBN978-81-94599-20-3).[16] The book was published by Jugnoo Prakashan, an imprint of Takshila Publication, New Delhi, in 2020.
Translations of her work
Books
In 2009 the Polish translation of Teji Grover's novel Neela by Kamila Junik was published by Ksiegarnia Akademicka, Kraków, under the title Blekit (ISBN978-83-7638-010-0).
In 2019 a collection of her selected poems was translated into Swedish and was published by Tranan, a Stockholm-based publisher. The title of the book was HUR SKA JAG SÄGA VAD SOM KOMMER (ISBN978-91-88253-83-5). The poems were translated by six Swedish poets and translators, namely, Ann Jäderlund, Birgitta Wallin, Lars Andersson, Lars Hermansson, Niclas Nilsson and Staffan Söderblom.[17]
In 2020 her novel Neela and the collection of her short stories Sapne Mein Prem Ki Saat Kahanian were published together in English translation by Vani Book Company, an imprint of Vani Prakashan Group, under the title Blue and Other Tales of Obsessive Love (ISBN978-81-948736-4-8). The book was translated by Meena Arora Nayak.
Teji Grover's poems have been translated into Indian and foreign languages including Marathi, English, Swedish, Polish, Norwegian, Catalan and Estonian. English translations of her poems have been included in the following anthologies:
Penguin New Writing in India, ed. Aditya Behl and David Nicholls (Penguin Books India, New Delhi,1992; ISBN0-14-023340-7);
In Their Own Voice, ed. Arlene Zide (Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 1993; ISBN0140156437 and 9780140156430);
An Anthology of Modern Hindi Poetry, ed. Kailash Vajpeyi (Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 1998; ISBN8171674305 and 9788171674305);
Love Poems from India, ed. Meena Alexander (Everyman's Library/Knopf, 2005; ISBN0-14-303264-X);
Speaking for Myself: An Anthology of Asian Women's Writing, eds. Sukrita Paul Kumar and Malashri Lal (Penguin Books India and India International Center, New Delhi, 2009; ISBN9780143065333); and
Home from A Distance, eds. Giriraj Kiradoo and Rahul Soni (Pratilipi Books, Jaipur, 2011; ISBN9788192066592 ).
Her poems figure in the following anthologies in foreign languages:
Swedish: Roster fraan Indien, eds. Birgitta Wallin and Tomas Lofstrom (Sveriges Forfattarforbund, Stockholm, 1997; ISBN91-7448-994-1), and Innan Ganges Flyter In I Natten, eds. Tomas Lofstrom and Birgitta Wallin (Bokforlaget Tranan, Stockholm, 2009; ISBN978-91-86307-07-3);[18]
Polish: Cracow Indological Studies, Volume VI, Literatura Indyjska W Przekladzie (Ksiegarnia Akademicka, Kraków, 2004; ISBN83-7188-778-7);
Catalan: Com espigues de blat amb vents de l'est, ed. Sameer Rawal (Cafe Central and Emboscall, Tordera in 2011; ISBN978-84-92563-40-1); and
Her poems have also appeared in a Marathi anthology of Hindi poetry: Sangini niwadak, Hindi stree kavita, ed. and trans. by Chandrakant Patil (Manovikas Prakashan, 2012; ISBN9789381636404).
The international literary journals in which the English translations of her poems have appeared include Poetry International Rotterdam, Rhino: The Poetry Forum, Chase Park, Modern Poetry in Translation, Hindi: Language, Discourse, Writing, Indian Literature, Paintbrush, Aufgabe and dialog.[19]
The non-English international journals in which her poems have been published include Lyrikvannen (Swedish), Karavan (Swedish) and Sirp (Estonian).[20]
In 2018 an issue of the Swedish journal Karavan was focused on her writing and her art-work. The issue carried an interview with her, translation of a long poem by her and two articles on her paintings.[21]
Her novel Neela appeared in English translation, by Meena Arora Nayak, in the journal Hindi: Language, Discourse, Writing in 2000.[22]
Two of her short stories, "Bhikshuni" and "Suparna", have also been translated into and published in English.[23]
Her short story "Su" has been translated into Croatian and published in the anthology Lotosi od neona: indijski autori o gradovima i drugim ljubavima edited by Lora Tomas and Marijana Janjic and published by Studio Tim, Rijeka, and Udruga Lotos, Zagreb, in 2017 (ISBN9789537780661).
Translations by Teji Grover
Teji Grover has translated into Hindi the following works:
From the Norwegian
Pan, a novel by Knut Hamsun, under the title PānaOCLC54782311, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2002.
Sult, a novel by Knut Hamsun, under the title Bhookh (ISBN81-8143-215-0), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2004.
Knut Hamsun's memoir Paa Gjengrodde Stier, under the title Ghas Dhanki Pagdandiyan (ISBN978-93-5072-722-5), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2014.
Master Builder, a play by Henrik Ibsen (co-translated with Rustam Singh), under the title Master Builder (ISBN81-8143-621-0), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2006.
An anthology of ten contemporary Norwegian short stories, under the title Das Samkaleen Norwigee Kahanian (ISBN978-81-8143-733-4), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2008.
An anthology of 23 Swedish poets, under the title Barf Ki Khushboo (ISBN81-7055-827-1) (co-edited with Lars Andersson), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, in 2001.
A collection of poems by the Swedish poet Lars Lundkvist, under the title Tove Olga Aurora (ISBN81-8143-301-7), Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, 2006.
A selection of poems of the Swedish poet Ann Jäderlund, under the title Pheeka Gulabi Rang (ISBN81-88858-57-9), Surya Prakashan Mandir, Bikaner, 2008.
From among Teji Grover's essays in Hindi, the following two essays have been translated into and published in English:
"The Blue House" and "Looking at the Body of a Poem: The Journey of a Hindi Poet".[24]
Further, the following essays were written and published originally in English:
"Incessant Search for Languages: Some Thoughts on Hindi Poetry."[30]
From among these essays, "A Necessary Poem", "The Fragrance of Delgadina’s Soul", "Weak Pink Color: Translating Ann Jäderlund on the Ghats of the Narmada" and "A Poet Caged in the Act of Translation" have been translated into and published in Swedish.[31]
Another of her essays, "Song of the Cows: Translating Lars Amund Vaage's 'Cows' into Hindi", has been translated into and published in Norwegian as part of an anthology of essays on the Norwegian author Lars Amund Vaage's work.[32]
Books Edited by Teji Grover
Teji Grover has edited five books for children in Hindi, all of them published by Eklavya, Bhopal. These are:
In addition, she has compiled and edited a collection of ghazals by well known Hindi shayar Harjeet Singh:
Mujhse Phir Mil (ISBN978-93-92621-28-4), published by Sambhavna Prakashan, Hapur, in 2023.
Poetry readings and cultural visits
In 1999, Teji Grover read her poems at Bengt Berg's Book Cafe Heidruns in Torsby, Sweden.[33] In 2008 she read her poems at the Baltic Center for Writers and Translators, Visby, Sweden, at their annual International Poetry Festival.[34] In the same year, she read her poems in the Olav Hauge Centenary Festival at the poet's birthplace, Ulvik, in Norway.[35] In 2011 she had readings of her poetry at Trondheim, Norway, during the IndiaFestival that was being held there.[36] Further, in 2014 she read her poems at the Writers' House at Tallinn, Estonia.[37]
In 1997, Teji Grover visited Sweden as part of a delegation of 10 Indian writers.[38] Subsequently, she was one of the Indian collaborators of the Indo-Swedish Translation Project, 1998–2009. Under the aegis of this project she translated three volumes of poetry from the Swedish into Hindi (see "Translations by Teji Grover" above.)[39] In 2008, she lectured at the Book Fair at Gothenburg on her translation of the Swedish poet Ann Jäderlund's poetry into Hindi.[40]
Exhibitions of her paintings
Grover has held the following solo shows of her paintings:
^See, Ashok Vajpeyi's preface to Teji Grover and Rustam Singh, Teji aur Rustam Ki Kavitaen, selected poems of both poets, New Delhi: HarperCollins, ISBN978-81-7223-879-7, Hindi-language. Accessed on 17 April 2015.
^See, Teji Grover and Rustam Singh, Teji aur Rustam Ki Kavitaen, selected poems of both poets, New Delhi: HarperCollins, ISBN978-81-7223-879-7, Hindi-language. Accessed on 17 April 2015.
^See Poetry International Rotterdam, http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/17742/27/Teji-GroverArchived 30 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 16 May 2015; Rhino 99: The Poetry Forum, p. 69; Chase Park, No. 7, pp. 47-51; Modern Poetry in Translation, New Series/No. 11 (Summer 1997), pp. 184-88, accessed on 16 May 2015); Indian Literature, No. 158 (November–December 1993), pp. 18-21, and No. 180 (July–August 1997), pp. 13-15; Paintbrush, Vol. XXIX (2002/2003), pp. 54-58; Hindi: Language, Discourse, Writing, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July–September 2001), pp. 31–42; Aufgabe, No. 13, pp. 32-40 (http://www.litmuspress.org/aufgabe-13/Archived 1 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 17 April 2015); and dialog, No. 26 (Autumn 2014).
^See Lyrikvannen, No. 4 (2001) and No. 1 (2003); Karavan, No. 2 (2008); and Sirp, No. 1 (3521) (9 January 2015). Also see, DORIS KAREVA, "Tuhandevärvine kivi".
^See, Lyrikvannen, No. 1, 2003, pp. 29-31; Karavan, No. 1, 2006, pp. 54-55; med andra ord, No. 55 (June 2008), pp. 4-10, http://www.oversattarcentrum.se/Content/files/mao%20nr%2055.pdf, accessed on 25 April 2015, and med andra ord, No. 79 (June 2014), pp. 10-15, respectively.
^See, Vaage, eds. Hanne Bramness and Jahn Holljen Thon, Forlaget Oktober, Oslo, 2012, pp. 231-44.
^See, LITTERÄRA MÖTEN MELLAN ÖST OCH VÄST: Svensk-indiska översättningsprojektet 1998–2009, Personregister: MEDARBETARE, http://u83402978.pwww.webhosting.telia.com/indbibl10ar.htm. Accessed on 26 April 2015. See also, sydasien, No. 4, 1997, pp. 17–19.
^Georgina Maddox, "Pen to Brush" (review of Jo Nahi Hai, solo show in Delhi), The Indian Express, 9 January 2011; and "Lines of Poetry" (Jo Nahi Hai), The Hindu, 31 December 2010. Accessed on 15 January 2022.
^Naguesh Rao Sardessai, "Artistic Synthesis", an article about group show Ensemble, held in Kala Academy, Goa, The Navhind Times, Goa, 8 February 2012, p. 2, under Section BUZZ.