Today's Google Doodle is Celebrating Meena Alexander
In honor of US Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this Doodle celebrates Indian American poet Meena Alexander. The artwork was illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artist Anjali Vakil.
Alexander was born in 1951 in Allahabad, India. Her family home was in Kerala, but she spent most of her childhood in Sudan where her father was stationed as a visiting meteorologist. She excelled in school and began writing poems in both English and French.
At only 13, Alexander enrolled at the University of Khartoum. Although she couldn’t read Arabic, a local newspaper translated and published some of her poems. Alexander graduated with a degree in English and French and then pursued a PhD in England. She returned to India with a doctorate in British Romantic literature. While writing poetry, Alexander held faculty positions in Delhi and Hyderabad.
In 1979, Alexander moved to New York to work as an assistant professor at Fordham University. She went on to become Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.
Among her early books, the novel Nampally Road (1991) explored Alexander’s experiences and feelings in modern India. She published many well-received poetry collections, including Illiterate Heart (2002) and Raw Silk (2004). With her signature cross-cultural perspective, Alexander dissected trauma and migration.
Alexander’s poetry and books have been translated into Malayalam, as well as Hindi, Urdu, German, Swedish, Arabic and Spanish. Illiterate Heart won the PEN Open Book Award in 2022. Her contributions to American literature earned her the Distinguished Achievement Award from the South Asian Literary Association. Her artful command of language continues to inspire poets to this day.
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