Logo
About Paresh Tiwari

About Paresh Tiwari

img

Who is Paresh Tiwari?

Poet, artist, and editor Paresh Tiwari has been widely published, especially in the sub-genre of Japanese poetry. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he has published two widely acclaimed collections of poetry.

His first book, ‘An inch of Sky’ was published in winter of 2014 and has been used as resource material for haiku and haibun at the Indiana Writers Centre, USA. ‘Raindrops chasing Raindrops’, his latest collection of haibun and hybrid poems has found an honourable mention at the ‘Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards’ – 2017; commissioned by the Haiku Foundation, USA.

Raindrops Chasing Raindrops: haibun & hybrid poems by Paresh Tiwari is at once electric, incisive, surreal, powerful, unique, and, for lack of a better term, modern. It is innovative in vision, language, and approach, yet, as it pushes at the boundaries of tradition, it does so with measured care, revealing an intent knowledge and respect for the haibun form..

– Comments from the Panel

Paresh has won peer-reviewed haiku competitions multiple times over and his haiku have been recognised in various contests and reviews, the most notable being a short-list for ‘The touchstone award for individual poem in 2016’, ‘Skylark award’, a third prize in the Summer World Haiku Review – 2014 and an honourable mention at the Mumbai Tata Literature Live, Autumn Rain Contest 2014. His haibun won the Wordweavers 2014 Flash Fiction contest.

He is currently the resident cartoonist for Cattails, a journal by United haiku and tanka society, USA. He was commissioned for thirty-five illustrations for the Dec 16 edition of Frameless Sky. He is also the serving haibun editor of the online literary magazine Narrow Road, a tri-annual publication.

Paresh has been invited to read his works at various literature festivals including the Goa Art and Lit Fest – 2016 and has conducted haiku and haibun workshops at Arcs of a Circle, Mumbai, Hyderabad International Literature Festival – 2014, SIES College Mumbai and British Council Library, Mumbai.

AWARDS & ACHEIVEMENTS

Paresh has won several Awards for his Books and Poems. Here are some of his achievements:

img

PRAISES FOR THE BOOKS

Raindrops Chasing Raindrops:

~ Terri Hale French

Never have I read haibun so transparently honest and personal, yet universally felt and understood. The poet uses a sometimes cerebral and occasionally surreal approach to whet the appetite of the reader, never resorting to spoon-feeding. I, for one, read Raindrops Chasing Raindrops from start to finish voraciously and finished hungering for more! This book requires a second or third read simply to savour.

~ Vandana Parashar

This book is like a misty rain which softly engulfs you in its fold and you forget the world around, sinking deeper and deeper in the bliss. If anyone has missed reading this book, they have missed something extremely beautiful. Every word opens a stitch in your heart and sneaks in, filling your heart with wonder. The way Paresh weaves his words, you can’t help but be entranced.

~ Mark Heathcote

Each page opens and reads part-diary, part poem and it is all exquisitely combined into a complete crisp woven tapestry which is kind of enlightened. And like all good poetry as soon as you’ve finished it, you want to return back to the beginning.

~ Steph

With each new poem, I found layers of my own psyche begging for more. With the shedding of each layer came a new epiphany…………

~ Yesha Shah

Just as the raindrops chasing each other on the windscreen of a car defy gravity, this book by Paresh Tiwari defies many-a rigid norm to elevate this genre Haibun, to hitherto unconquered heights.

An Inch of Sky:

~ Vinita Agarwal

An Inch Of Sky is a collection of some magnificent haiku by Paresh Tiwari. His imagination embraces nature and weaves it into a rich tapestry of images with breath-taking impact. Add to that some gut wrenching three lines packed with emotions that rip out the reader’s heart, and you have a book that you’d like to keep by your bedside forever.

~ Ray Rasmussen

Paresh Tiwari is one of the best new voices in haibun poetry, a genre that combines prose and haiku. If you want to know more about this delightful form of poetry that was invented in Japan and transported to the English-language world, this is a good place to have a taste of the form.

~ John Brandi

What stands out in his haiku and haibun, are the jumps, the leaps, the precision of language, the unusual pairing of imagery, the wonderful juxtapositions. That’s what gives them spark and causes resonance in the reader’s ear. A reverberation in which he or she can continue the imagery, the story, even find personal meaning.

~ Padmaja Iyengar

Paresh treats the haiku genre of poetry as a meditative process during which he paints his word pictures and then refines his creations with the commitment of an artist, the reverence of a devotee and the passion of a lover.

~ Robert D. Wilson

I am not a fan of most haiku-like short poetry written today. Most of it is forgettable and amateurish compared to the hokku Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, and other Japanese masters pioneered centuries ago. Paresh Tiwari is an exception. He composes short form poetry that is literature worthy of publication and contemplation.