Poet, cultural theorist, curator – Bombay-born Ranjit Hoskote plays all roles with equal prowess. Having authored more than thirty books, ranging across poetry, art criticism, cultural theory and translation, Ranjit Hoskote has duly earned himself a distinct place in the country’s contemporary arts scene.
He is the author of more than 25 books, ranging across poetry, art criticism, cultural history and poetry in translation. His collections of poetry include Central Time (Penguin/ Viking, 2014), Vanishing Acts: New & Selected Poems 1985-2005 (Penguin, 2006) and, in German translation, Die Ankunft der Vögel (Carl Hanser Verlag, 2006). His translation of the 14th-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded has been published as I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded (Penguin Classics, 2011). He is the editor of Dom Moraes: Selected Poems (Penguin Modern Classics, 2012), the first annotated critical edition of a major Anglophone Indian poet’s work.
With Ilija Trojanow, he has co-authored Kampfabsage (Random House/Blessing Verlag, 2007; in English as Confluences: Forgotten Histories from East and West, Yoda Press, 2012). Hoskote has also co-authored, with Nancy Adajania, The Dialogues Series (Popular/Foundation B&G, 2011), an unfolding programme of conversations with contemporary artists. With Maria Hlavajova, he is the editor of Future Publics: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art (BAK/Valiz, 2015).
Hoskote has been a Fellow of the International Writing Program, University of Iowa (1995) and writer-in-residence at Villa Waldberta, Munich (2003), Theater der Welt, Essen/Mülheim (2010) and the Polish Institute, Berlin (2010). He has been research scholar-in-residence at BAK/basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2010 and 2013). As a curator of contemporary art, he has organized 30 exhibitions since 1993. He co-curated the 7th Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 2008) with Okwui Enwezor and Hyunjin Kim; he was the curator of India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, titled Everyone Agrees: It’s About to Explode (2011).
