https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Hoshang_MerchantHoshang Merchant - Revision history2026-07-30T13:36:46ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Hoshang_Merchant&diff=167849&oldid=previmported>CommonsDelinker at 08:44, 12 April 20212021-04-12T08:44:13Z<p></p>
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{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --><br />
| name = Hoshang Merchant<br />
| image =<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| caption = Hoshang Merchant in Hyderabad, 2019. <br />
| pseudonym =<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = 1947<br />
| birth_place = [[Mumbai]], [[India]]<br />
| death_date =<br />
| death_place =<br />
| occupation = Writer, Poet<br />
| nationality = Indian<br />
|education =<br />
| alma_mater = [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai]]<br />
| period =<br />
| genre = [[Poetry]]<br />
| subject =<br />
| movement =<br />
|notableworks = {{Unbulleted list<br />
|''Flower to Flame''<br />
|''Selected Poems''<br />
|''Bellagio Blues''<br />
}}<br />
| spouse =<br />
| partner =<br />
| children = <br />
| relatives =<br />
| influences =<br />
| influenced =<br />
| awards =<br />
| signature =<br />
| website = <br />
| portaldisp =<br />
}}<br />
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<br />
'''Hoshang Dinshaw Merchant''' (born 1947) is a [[poet]] from [[India]]. Most of his writings are in English. He is best known for his anthology on gay writing titled ''Yaarana''.<ref>{{cite web |title='Homosexuality is endemic where capitalism thrives,' says Hoshang Merchant |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/hoshang-merchant-memories-of-another-day-post-section-377/article24914467.ece |website=thehindu.com |publisher=thehindu.com}}</ref><br />
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==Early years and education==<br />
Hoshang Merchant was born in 1947 to a working class [[Zoroastrian]] family in [[Mumbai]], [[India]]. He was educated at Xavier's Lads Academy and [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai|St. Xavier's College]], [[Mumbai]]. He has a Masters from Occidental College, [[Los Angeles]]. At [[Purdue]], he studied Renaissance and Modernism, and for his PhD (1981), wrote a dissertation on [[Anaïs Nin]]. He has lived and taught in [[Heidelberg]], [[Jerusalem]] and Iran where he was exposed to various radical movements of the Left.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel6magazine.com/article/article.asp?name1%3Djul03a1.inc%26name2%3Djul03a2.inc%26name3%3DArticle |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-10-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312125344/http://www.channel6magazine.com/article/article.asp?name1=jul03a1.inc&name2=jul03a2.inc&name3=Article |archive-date=2008-03-12 }}"Hoshang Merchant - The Poetry of Jalwah" by Aparajita Roy Sinha, Channel6magazine.com, accessed 27 October 2009</ref> Merchant is openly gay.<ref name=OL /><br />
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[[Writers Workshop]] in [[Kolkata]], [[India]] has published seventeen books of his poetry since 1989. Rupa and Co. published his book of poems ''Flower to Flame'' in 1992 in the New Poetry in India series. The Rockefeller got him ''Bellagio Blues'' (2004).{{clarify |date=June 2016 |reason= Does this mean they published Bellagio Blues?}} ''Yaraana: Gay Writing from India'' (Penguin, 1999), ''Forbidden Sex/Texts'' (Routledge, 2009), ''Indian Homosexuality'' (Allied, 2010), ''The Man Who Would Be Queen: Autobiographical Fiction'' (Penguin, 2012) and ''Sufiana: Poems'' (2013) are among his notable works.<br />
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==Teacher, poet and critic==<br />
Since the mid-80s, Hoshang Merchant has made his home in [[Hyderabad]], where he taught English at [[University of Hyderabad]].<ref name=OL>{{cite news | url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/sar-pe-lal-topi-parsi/212935 | title=Sar Pe Lal Topi Parsi | first=Hoshang | last=Merchant | publisher=Outlook | date=20 August 2001 | access-date=29 April 2018 }}</ref><br />
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He has written 20 books of poetry, and four critical studies. He edited India's first [[gay]] anthology ''Yaraana: Gay Writing from India''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rath|first1=Akshaya K.|title='Either Sink or Swim!': An Interview with Hoshang Merchant|journal=The Challenge|date=2014|volume=23|issue=1}}</ref> ''Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant'' (OUP: New Delhi, 2016), edited by Akshaya K. Rath, is his most recent publication.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://india.oup.com/product/secret-writings-of-hoshang-merchant-9780199465965|title=Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant|website=india.oup.com}}</ref><br />
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==Works==<br />
===Poetry===<br />
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* ''Flower to Flame'' (1989, Delhi: [[Rupa & Co.]])<br />
* ''Stone to Fruit'' (1989, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Yusuf in Memphis'' (1991, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Hotel Golkonda: Poems 1991'' (1992, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''The Home, the Friend and the World'' (1995, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Jonah and the Whale'' (1995, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Love's Permission'' (1996, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''The Heart in Hiding'' (1996, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''The Birdless Cage'' (1997, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Talking to the Djinns'' (1997, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Selected Poems'' (1999, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Bellagio Blues'' (2004, Hyderabad: Otherwise Books, Spark-India)<br />
*''Homage to Jibanananda Das'' (2005, Contemporary World Poetry Series, London: Aark Arts)<br />
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===Critical studies===<br />
*''In-discretions: Anaïs Nin'' (1990, Calcutta: [[Writers Workshop]])<br />
*''Forbidden Sex, Forbidden Texts'' (2008, Delhi: Routledge)<br />
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===Edited===<br />
*''Yaarana: Gay Writing from India'' (1999, New Delhi: Penguin)<ref>{{cite web |title=Yaraana: Edited by Hoshang Merchant |url=https://parsikhabar.net/books/yaraana-edited-by-hoshang-merchant/2769/ |website=parsikhabar.net |publisher=parsikhabar.net |access-date=1 September 2019}}</ref><br />
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=== Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies ===<br />
* ''Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry'' (2004) ed. by [[Menka Shivdasani]] and published by [[Michael Rothenberg]], Big Bridge [[United States]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry - Hoshang Merchant |url=https://bigbridge.org/BB17/poetry/indianpoetryanthology/Hoshang_Merchant.html# |website=bigbridge.org |publisher=bigbridge.org |access-date=1 September 2019}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
{{portal|Biography|Poetry|}}<br />
*[[Indian English Poetry]]<br />
*[[Indian poetry in English]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://hoshang.50webs.com/ Hoshang Merchant: Poet, Teacher, Lover]<br />
* [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?212935 "Sar Pe Lal Topi Parsi" by Hoshang Merchant], Outlook.com, 20 August 2001, accessed 27 October 2009<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080312125344/http://www.channel6magazine.com/article/article.asp?name1=jul03a1.inc&name2=jul03a2.inc&name3=Article "Hoshang Merchant - The Poetry of Jalwah" by Aparajita Roy Sinha], Channel6magazine.com, accessed 27 October 2009<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Merchant, Hoshang}}<br />
[[Category:1947 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:English-language poets from India]]<br />
[[Category:Gay writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian expatriates in Iran]]<br />
[[Category:Indian expatriates in Israel]]<br />
[[Category:Indian expatriates in the United States]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male poets]]<br />
[[Category:LGBT writers from India]]<br />
[[Category:LGBT Zoroastrians]]<br />
[[Category:Occidental College alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Poets from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Purdue University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]</div>imported>CommonsDelinker