Dr. Ravi Shankar is an Indian American poet, editor, and former literature professor. He is the founding editor and executive director of the electronic journal Drunken Boat. He is a Pushcart Prize winning poet.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Ravi Shankar was born on Monday, 13 January 1975 (age 47 years; as in 2023) in Washington DC, United States. Their zodiac sign is Capricorn. He grew up in Virginia. When Shankar turned 9, he came to India and lived there for a year and a half before returning to America. While in India, she did her schooling at MAK Convent, Madras. He scored 1480 on his GRE in 1999. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Virginia earning a Bachelor of Arts from 1992 to 1996. In 2000, he received an MFA from Columbia University. In 2021, he received a PhD in Media and Communications from the University of Sydney.
Ravi Shankar’s childhood picture
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Gray
Eye colour: brown
Family
Ravi Shankar was born in Washington DC in a Tamil Brahmin family.
parents and siblings
His father KH Shankar was an engineer and his mother Rajeshwari Krishnan is a housewife. Ravi Shankar is the eldest of three children, he has two younger sisters.
Ravi Shankar with his mother
Ravi Shankar with his sisters in Florida
wife and children
Ravi Shankar was married to Parker, but they later separated due to incidents with the NYPD. They have two daughters, Samara Shankar and Talia Shankar. There is not much information about his ex-wife.
Ravi Shankar with his daughter Samara Shankar
Ravi Shankar with his daughter Talia Shankar
relationships
Ravi Shankar is in a relationship with writer and teacher Julie since 2018.
Ravi Shankar with Julie
Religion
Ravi Shankar follows Hindu religion.
Ravi Shankar with his family at Sri Lakshmi Temple, Ashland
livelihood
Write
Ravi Shankar has written over 15 books and chapbooks of poetry, including “The Many Uses of Mint: New and Selected Poems: 1998-2018,” What Else Could It Be, and A Field Guide to Southern China (2019). Her literary works have appeared in The Paris Review, Fulcrum, McSweeney’s, AWP Writers’ Chronicle, and Scribner’s Best American Erotic Poems. Her poems have been translated into more than 12 languages, including French, German, Spanish, Hindi, Italian, and Bengali, and have been featured in the Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, and Poetry International. He founded Drunken Boat, one of the art world’s oldest electronic magazines. In 2021, he published his memoir “Correctional” in which he wrote about his parents’ immigration to the US from South India and his experience facing racism and prison in the US. American historian and scholar H. Bruce Franklin described it as a daring voyage of discovery and said,
An adventurous journey of discovery, Correctional is a true odyssey, navigating treacherous cultural and psychological waters and barely reaching home. Thanks to Shankar’s brilliant writing and admirable honesty, we relive his tragic, but ultimately inspiring, personal saga. And his deep insight into our justice system alone is worth the price of admission.
Ravi Shankar holding the book “Correctional”
She co-edited WW Norton’s Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond, written by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordim, with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handel, which Nobel laureate Nadine Gordim described as “World Literature “A beautiful achievement.” He is the President of Asia Pacific Writers and Translators (APWT). In 2016, Shankar collaborated with Priya Sarukkai Chabariya to translate the works of Tamil poet/saint Andal. The many awards won by Shankar’s poems include the Gulf Coast Poetry Prize and the Bennett Prize for Poetry at Columbia University.
Ravi Shankar reading his poetry at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2023
teaching
Shankar has taught at several institutions including Columbia University, Fairfield University and the University of Sydney. She has received fellowships from Yaddo Corporation, MacDowell Colony, Gentel Foundation, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Blue Mountain Center. In 2011, he became president of the Connecticut Young Writers Trust. In addition to the US and Australia, he has taught at many institutions around the world, including the Wesleyan University Summer Writing Conference, the City University of Hong Kong, Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, and Sun Yat-sen University in China. In 2016, he was appointed as a permanent faculty member of the New York Writers Workshop.
Ravi Shankar at APWT 2022
Controversy
Poet promoted to professor while in jail
In 2014, Ravi Shankar was a poet resident and associate English professor at Central Connecticut State University, Connecticut. He was promoted to the rank of full professor by Connecticut’s Board of Regents for Higher Education. But at the time of promotion, Shankar was serving two weeks of a 90-day pre-trial jail sentence. Charges against Shankar included previous credit card fraud and a probation violation for driving under the influence. This caused an uproar among the media and netizens, who questioned the integrity of the board. Every newspaper and news channel had the same headline “Promotion to poet professor while in jail”. CCSU President Dr. Jack Miller said he did not know Shankar was in jail until the professor was promoted. In an interview he said,
This is a very complex situation, but the simple answer is that it was my responsibility to inform the Board of Regents and I did not. At the time of the Board’s action, I was not aware that Professor Shankar had been put in jail. When we came to know about them, I asked my staff to thoroughly investigate all the legal actions and various processes involved.
Shankar filed charges against the public university system of Central Connecticut and won a settlement of $60,409, which was paid by the college authority to Shankar in exchange for his resignation. Ravi Shankar resigned from CCSU and went to Australia to pursue his PhD. Shankar said in an interview,
I take my responsibilities as a teacher and a role model seriously, and am deeply distraught by the combination of bad luck and worse judgment that has wreaked so much havoc on all the things I hold dear.”
award
- In 2009, he received a fellowship award from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism
- In 2014, she won the Glenna Luschi Award from Prairie Schooner.
- In 2017, he won the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship.
- In 2017, she won the Muse India Translation Award at the Hyderabad Literary Festival for her translation with Priya Sarukkai Chabri.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Ravi is a dog lover and has two dogs, Annie and Rishi, and often uploads their pictures on his social media accounts.
Ravi Shankar with his dog Rishi at his home in Rhode Island
Ravi Shankar with his dog Annie
- Ravi Shankar loves traveling and has visited many countries including Singapore, Italy, India and Myanmar.
Ravi Shankar in Slovenia
- In March 2023, he gave a TED talk at TEDx TUFTS.
Ravi Shankar at TUFTS University
- In January 2018, he appeared as a guest speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
- According to Shankar, he loves Indian food and Pav Bhaji is his favorite Indian street food.
Ravi Shankar eating Indian food in Madras
- Ravi Shankar loves adventure sports and has done many including ziplining and sky diving.
Ravi Shankar Sky Diving in New Zealand in 2018
- During an interview after the release of his memoir, Ravi Shankar described himself as ABCD, saying,
Colloquially, I am ABCD, an American-born confused desi, a man whose displacement is the source of parody.
- In 2008, Ravi Shankar faced racism, he was targeted by a New York City police officer who arrested Shankar on a warrant for being a “five-in-ten white male weighing 140 pounds”. He was driving when he was stopped by an NYPD officer. Shankar passed all the sobriety tests but after some time he realized that there were more police cars than when he was first stopped. He was eventually released, but not before spending more than 72 hours in jail. Shankar shared his story with NPR and won a $15,000 settlement against the city and the NYPD.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn