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Anjali’s Naag Mountain shortlisted for Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
Her collection explores the Indo-Fijian experience through history, mythology, and surrealism, highlighting the cultural heritage of displaced people.
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Manisha Anjali / LinkedIn/Manisha Anjali
Indian-origin poet, writer, and artist Manisha Anjali has been shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in the Prize for Poetry category for her debut collection, Naag Mountain.
The book was published by Giramondo in April 2024, and it explores the Indo-Fijian experience through history, mythology, and surrealism, highlighting the cultural heritage of displaced people.
Anjali, an Australian-based poet of Indo-Fijian descent, takes inspiration from her ancestors, who were brought from India as indentured laborers to work on Fiji’s sugar plantations. Her poetry blends historical stories, folk traditions, and spiritual symbols to reflect on identity, displacement, and collective memory. Naag Mountain tells the story of a community that receives messages from ancestors and spirits. Forgotten historical figures come to life through old film reels, reclaiming their voices.
At the heart of the book is the Naag—a thousand-mouthed serpent that creates a floating mountain filled with trees, mist, and dreams.
Beyond poetry, Anjali is also a researcher, educator, and artist. She founded Neptune, a platform for documenting dreams, visions, and hallucinations. She is also part of Whelk, a music collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Genevieve Fry, exploring sound and storytelling.
Anjali has received several grants and fellowships to support her work. She won the Neilma Sidney Travel Grant, which allowed her to travel to Fiji for research. She has also held residencies at BLINDSIDE’s Regional Arts & Research Residency at Mooramong, Incendium Radical Library, and The Wheeler Centre. Her writing has appeared in respected literary journals such as Best of Australian Poems 2021, Meanjin, Liminal Magazine, Portside Review, and Cordite Poetry Review. She has guest-edited Runway Journal Issue 41: LOVE and was Poetry Editor at The Lifted Brow.
Anjali is also a passionate educator. She has led creative writing, literature, and performance workshops at the University of Melbourne, RMIT, Melbourne Polytechnic, and other arts organizations. She also teaches literacy and numeracy at the Prahran Community Learning Centre, showing her dedication to education and community work.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards celebrate outstanding writing across various categories, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, and Indigenous writing. Winners in each category receive AUS $25,000, while the overall Victorian Prize for Literature winner gets an additional AUS $100,000.
The winners will be announced on March 19 at a special ceremony in Melbourne, which will also be live-streamed via The Wheeler Centre.
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