Sasenarine Persaud is an essayist, novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is the author of eleven books: eight poetry collections, two novels, and a book of short stories. His latest books are, Lantana Strangling Ixora, TSAR Books (Toronto, Fall 2011) and In a Boston Night, TSAR Publications

TSAR Publications

TSAR Publications is a Toronto-based nonprofit book publisher focusing on multicultural literature, particularly Canadian authors and subject matter....

 (Toronto, Fall 2008). He was born in Guyana and has lived for several years in Canada. He has served as a Vice-President and chair of the membership committee of the League of Canadian Poets

League of Canadian Poets

The League of Canadian Poets , a non-profit arts service organization, is the national association of professional publishing and spoken word poets in Canada...

, as a director on the Board of Directors of the Scarborough Arts Council (Toronto), and on juries for the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council

Ontario Arts Council

The Ontario Arts Council is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to promote and assist the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of all Ontarians...

. He presently resides in Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

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Book Publications

• Lantana Strangling Ixora (TSAR Publications, 2011)
• In a Boston Night (TSAR Publications, 2008)Reviews
• The Wintering Kundalini (Peepal Tree Press, Leeds, 2002)
• A Writer Like You (TSAR Publications, Toronto, 2002)
• The Hungry Sailor (TSAR Publications, Toronto, 2000)
• Canada Geese and Apple Chatney (TSAR Publications, Toronto, 1998)
• A Surf of Sparrows' Songs (TSAR Publications, Toronto, 1996)
• The Ghost of Bellow's Man (Peepal Tree, Leeds, 1992)
• Dear Death (Peepal Tree, Leeds, 1989)
• Between the Dash and the Comma (Toronto, 1989)
• Demerary Telepathy (Peepal Tree, Leeds, 1989)

webpage

Awards

Awards Include: the K.M. Hunter Foundation Award (Toronto, 1996), the 1999 Arthur Schomburg Award (New York) for his writing and his pioneering of Yogic Realism, and Fellowships at the University of Miami and Boston University. Persaud has a Master's in Creative Writing from Boston University. His fiction was shortlisted for the 1997 Journey Prize

Journey Prize

The Journey Prize is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by McClelland and Stewart and the Writers' Trust of Canada for the best short story published by an emerging writer in a Canadian literary magazine. The award was endowed by James A...

(Toronto) while his poetry was nominated for the 1998 Canadian National Magazine Award, and several times shortlisted, most recently in 2011, for The Guyana Prize for Literature.

Yogic Realism

Sasenarine Persaud has pioneered Yogic Realism a term he originated to describe his literary aesthetics; his essay, “Kevat: Waiting on Yogic Realism” was published twice in India. His other essay on Yogic Realism, “I hear a voice, is it mine? Yogic Realism and the Short Story” (originally a paper presented at the Sandhills Writers Conference, Augusta, GA) was published in World Literature Today (74:3, University of Oklahoma, Summer 2000). Yogic Realism and Sasenarine’s work has been the focus of a doctoral dissertation by an Indian Scholar.

Anthologies

Persaud's work has appeared in journals and anthologies in Canada, England, India, Singapore, Malaysia,the Middle East, the United States, and the West Indies and has been widely anthologized, appearing in such publications as: A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Short Stories (Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, 2010); Concert of Voices: An Anthology of World Writing in English (Broadview Press, Ontario, 2009); Anthology of Colonial and Post Colonial Short Fiction (Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York, 2007); The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse (Oxford University Press, 2005); The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories (Oxford University Press, 2000); The Journey Prize Anthology: short fiction from the best of Canada’s new writers (McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1997); The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Verse (Heinemann, London, 1992); Another Way to Dance: Contemporary Asian Poetry from Canada and the United States (TSAR, Toronto, 1996); and Caribbean New Voices (Longman, London, 1995).

External links

• Sasenarine Persaud Author site
• Sasenarine Persaud Author site
• Sasenarine Persaud website
• TSAR Publications
• Ryerson University: Asian Heritage in Canada