A poet, artist and winner of the 2023 International Reuel Prize for Poetry, Smeetha Bhoumik is the founding editor of Yugen Quest Review, and founder of the WE literary community (2016). Her poetry features in the Lunar Codex as part of the Polaris Trilogy curated by Lead Editor Joyce Brinkman (Editors Dr. Joe Heithaus, Jessica Reeds). The Lunar Codex is conceptualised and spearheaded by Dr. Samuel Peralta, visionary physicist, best-selling author, entrepreneur, storyteller. So much excitement! Creations by artists & poets worldwide, reached moon in Intuitive Machine's Odysseus with the Lunar Codex (an archive of art, poetry, music, film) at the Moon’s South Pole.
New Year 2024 saw her joining gifted poets & writers from all over the world as delegates at the wonderful Panorama International Literature Festival 2024.
Creating history - On Feb 22, 2024, the Lunar Codex landed on the moon in Intuitive Machine's Odysseus, an uncrewed autonomous NASA lander, carrying its rich archive of art, poetry, music and film. A moment to be cherished forever!
Smeetha is the author of ' In Tumultuous Light, Rhapsodies! (2023), 'Where I Belong - Moments, Mist & Song' (2019) and Return to Love - The Point of Poetry (2021), and is Chief Editor of Equiverse Space – A Sound Home in Words (2018), Host ‘Writing As Bridges’, a WE panel at Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT), Bangalore, ‘22. She facilitates poetry at #CeWoPoWriMoWE. Her favourite poetic form is the sestina..
As Founder – WE, she has helped establish several poetry awards, including the WE Kamala Das Poetry Award, WE Eunice de Souza Poetry Award, WE Chirag-e-Dair, WE Illumination Award, WE Trailblazer Poet Teacher Award, WE Gifted Poet Award along with several WE Special Recognition Prizes .
Her poems feature in national/ international journals, anthologies including The Mountain Was Abuzz - Poems on Himalaya, 2024 (Ed Toolika Rani, Sabre & Quill), The Polaris Trilogy - Poems for the Moon, 2023, Setu Mag, TMYS Review March 2023, Sept '22, March 2022, Sunflowers – Ukranian Poetry on War, Resistance, Hope, Peace (2022), New Gen International Beat Poets Goddess anthology 2022, Oxygen – Parables of the Pandemic 2022, Quesadilla & Other Adventures 2019, Muse India 2017, 2018, Life and Legends 2018, Modern English Poetry by Younger Indians– Sahitya Akademi, 2019, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Open Your Eyes – A Climate Change Anthology, Freedom Raga, Poetry & Covid project – Universities of Plymouth, and Nottingham Trent, Writing Language, Culture – Asia vs Africa, Mwanaka, among others.
Her art, mainly the ‘Universe Series‘ in oils and mixed media, explores oneness and the mysterious universe. It has shown in beautiful exhibitions in India and abroad. Her painting - Lunar Landing (oil on canvas, 2006) acquires special significance now, as the dots connect in a beauteous circle of serendipity...
And a poet-artist is over the moon!
