Jonaki Ray
Poet
During my residency, I will focus on my translation project with the 2025 Villa Swagatam laureate, Thibault Marthouret. The resulting cross-border, multilingual work, Delhi-Gangtok-Bordeaux (working title), is themed around eco-poetry and is at the intersections of language, environment, and culture. I will also finalise my hybrid collection that weaves in history and fact through poetry, photographs, and archival material, showcasing the permeability and interdependency between them.
I am looking forward to meaningful exchanges with other residents, which will give new ideas and directions to my writing, and also hoping to explore the landscape and heritage of Nantes and be open to its influence on future work.
Jonaki Ray was educated in India (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur) and the USA (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). A scientist by education and training, and a software engineer (briefly) in the past, she returned to her first love, writing, and is now a poet, writer, and editor. She is the author of Firefly Memories (Copper Coin, India) and Lessons in Bending (Sundress Publications, USA).
Jonaki has received multiple recognitions, including Pushcart Prize and Forward Prize for Best Single Poem nominations, the Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award, and First Prize in the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Contest, among others. Her work has been published in Poetry, Poetry Wales, The Rumpus, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Lunch Ticket, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and elsewhere.
