Bhanu Kapil (born 1968)[1] is a British-born poet and author of Indian descent. She is best known for her books The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (2001), Incubation: A Space for Monsters (2006), and Ban en Banlieue (2015).
Bhanu Khapil
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Khapil speaking at an event at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania
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| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
| Occupation | writer |
| Awards | T. S. Eliot Prize (2020) |
In 2020, Kapil won one of eight Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes.[2]
Kapil was born in 1968[1] outside of London[3] to Indian parents.[4] In 1990, she moved to the United States,[4] then returned to England in 2019.[3] She presently spends her time in both the United Kingdom and the United States.[1]
Kapil received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loughborough University and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the State University of New York Brockport.[4]
Kapil's first book, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, was written in the late 1990s.[5] She has cited Salman Rushdie's 1980 Booker Prize win as a formative experience for her, saying "Perhaps then, for the first time, I understood that someone like me: could. Could look like me and write."[6] In early 2015, The Believer held a round-table discussion of her work over the course of three days.[7]
2009's Humanimal: A Project for Future Children took its inspiration from the nonfiction account of Amala and Kamala, two girls found "living with wolves in colonial Bengal."[8] Douglas A. Martin has described Incubation: A Space For Monsters as "a feminist, post-colonial On the Road."[9] Kapil also contributed the introduction to Amina Cain's short story collection I Go To Some Hollow.[10] Her public readings have elements of performance art.[11] Her poetry appeared in a collection edited by Brian Droitcour that was produced as part of the New Museum's 2015 Triennial.[12]
Aside from writing, Kapil has taught at Naropa University,[3] as well as in Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts program.[1] She has also contributed and co-taught in the Master's in Leadership for Sustainability program at the University of Vermont.[13]
In 2019, Kapil received a year-long fellowship at the University of Cambridge; after the fellowship, she remained as an artist by-fellow at Churchill College.[3] In 2022, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[13]
Incubation: A Space for Monsters was a Small Press Distribution best-seller.[14] Ban en Banlieue was named one of Time Out New York's most anticipated books of early 2015.[15]
In 2019, Kapil received the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellowship from the University of Cambridge.[16]
In March 2020 Kapil was awarded one of eight Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes.[2] In January 2021, she was awarded the 2020 T. S Eliot Poetry Prize for How to Wash a Heart.[17][3] She has also received the Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors.[16]