Essays/Reportage
Dreams Deferred: Black Lives in Indian Literature of the Bandung Era
The Caravan (2022)
A long-form essay on Afro-Asian solidarity in 1960s-70s literature
https://caravanmagazine.in/books/india-africa-bandung-era
Justice for Jayaraj and Bennix
London Review of Books blog (2020)
A short explainer on recent cases of police brutality in India
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/july/justice-for-jayaraj-and-bennix
The Lone Strokes
Open (2020)
An essay on isolation in the art of Nasreen Mohamedi and Tyeb Mehta
https://openthemagazine.com/art-culture/the-lone-strokes/
A Template for Violence
The Caravan (2019)
A long read, combining reportage and historical study, on the 1969 Gujarat riots
https://caravanmagazine.in/history/the-riots-that-changed-the-course-of-gujarats-political-history
Brewing Discontent
The Caravan (2018)
A report on the politics of the mahua flower in Madhya Pradesh's Umaria district, leading up to the state's assembly elections
Is There an Identity Crisis?
Open Magazine (2018)
A personal reflection on the situation of young contemporary dance makers in India
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/dance/is-there-an-identity-crisis
Jack Gilbert, The Poet of My Heart
The Hindu BLInk (2018)
A meditative and critical essay on the power of Jack Gilbert's poetry
Losing the Plot: A Cult Filmmaker’s Indian Misadventure
The Caravan (2017)
Digging into the past of Alejandro Jodorowsky's "buried" Indian film
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/jodorowsky-indian-misadventure
Possessing Skies: Shilpa Gupta
Asymptote (2017)
A reading of Indian visual artist Shilpa Gupta's language-based installations
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/visual/poorna-swami-shilpa-gupta-possessing-skies/
Podcasts and Talks
The Statues are Falling!
Bangalore International Centre (2020)
A conversation with SOAS-based academic Rahul Rao on the politics and morality of erecting and felling statues
https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/event/the-statues-are-falling/
Identity, Belonging, and Dislocation
Bangalore International Centre (2020)
A conversation with Indian writer Annie Zaidi about her Nine Dots Prize-winning work,
Bread, Cement, Cactus
Poetry, Nature, and a Changing World
Bangalore International Centre (2020)
A conversation with British poet Ruth Padel about her work
Reviews
Welcome to a Pakistani 'wonderlogue'
Livemint (2020)
on Mirza Athar Baig's Urdu novel in translation, Hassan's State of Affairs
https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/4d9SM8WKKzUoJnNHesRskL/Praying-for-time.html
The Lives of the Original Public Women
Livemint (2019)
on Saba Dewan's Tawaifnama
Praying for Time
Livemint (2018)
on Anjum Hasan's short story collection, A Day in the Life
https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/4d9SM8WKKzUoJnNHesRskL/Praying-for-time.html
King Lear in India
Open Magazine (2017)
on Preti Taneja's We That Are Young
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/books/king-lear-in-india
Poems
Poems in Saffron Ink
TheWire.in (2017)
https://thewire.in/?s=poorna+poems+in+saffron+ink
काला अक्षर भैंस बराबर and River Letters
Prelude (2017)
https://preludemag.com/contributors/poorna-swami/
Indiana Review (2015)