From Ghalib’s Delhi and Nissim Ezekiel’s Bombay to Agha Shahid Ali’s Srinagar and Kamala Das’s Calcutta, from Sarojini Naidu’s Hyderabad to Arundhathi Subramaniam’s Madras to Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih’s Shillong; The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City takes you on a spectacular poetic journey across thirty-seven cities in India.

This anthology contains 375 poems, those written in English and those translated from nearly twenty languages. From the classical voices of Valmiki and the Sangam poets to the Bhakti and Sufi strains of Surdas, Kabir and Amir Khusrau, and the early modern figures like Mir Taqi Mir, Narmad, Rudyard Kipling and Rabindranath Tagore, this collection offers an immersive lyrical exploration of India’s urban landscape.

Contemporary poets such as Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Vikram Seth, Eunice de Souza, Arun Kolatkar, Amrita Pritam, Amit Chaudhuri and Gulzar carry this tradition into the present. Together, they take the reader through depictions of cities as imperial capitals, colonial outposts and dynamic, ever-evolving spaces that serve as the backdrop for postmodern life. At its core, this collection portrays the Indian city as a complex organism and living embodiment of the collective consciences of its many, many residents. A collection for not just those who live in the cities featured in this book but for anyone who is familiar with the chaotic, paradoxical and magical tableau that constitutes life in a city in this part of the world.