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Roshan Doug
1963 -
Profile
Poet. Roshan Doug was born and brought up in Jalandhar, India
before moving to Birmingham in the
West Midlands of England. He studied at the University of
Lancaster and went on to gain an MA in English from the
University of Nottingham. Following university he travelled
widely throughout Europe and South America and taught English
Language at the University of Athens. He returned to the West
Midlands and has worked as an tutor and examiner in English,
including work with private language schools in London and
Oxford. After becoming Lecturer in English and Poet in Residence
at Dudley College, as well as a part-time lecturer in the English
department at Birmingham University, he is now Professor of
Poetry at the University of Central England.
In October 2000 he became the
fifth Poet Laureate for Birmingham, a post created and maintained
to raise the profile of poetry across the city. Earlier poets to
have held the honorary title have been Brian Lewis, David Hart,
Sybil Ruth and Simon Pitt. Roshan performed at festivals and
events throughout his year of office and he was particularly keen
to use the opportunity to try and make English poetry more easily
available to the Asian community. He led a team of ten poets to
spread the benefits of poetry reading and writing to the public,
targeting especially those who would not normally get involved in
poetry.
He is Arts Editor of Spice Lifestyle, an Asian cultural
magazine published in Britain.
Roshan Doug's first collection of poetry was Delusions
(1995), published by Charles Green Education. This was followed
in 1998 by Thicker than water and this combines Roshan
Doug's work with that of fellow poet Wayne Dean-Richards. The
publisher was Chronicles of Disorder Press, Oldbury. The
English-knowing men was published by Castle View
Publications, Dudley College, in 1999. The title refers to things
that seem Indian, but are very English beneath the surface.
Ghandi used the phrase in one of his speeches where he pointed to
what he considered to be a very real threat to India after
independence. A fourth collection of poems is due to be published
in October 2003 by UCE Press, entitled The delicate falling of
a God. It is a short sequence of elegies to mark the second
anniversary of the events of 11th September 2001.
In April 2001 he personally delivered a poem to Buckingham
Palace which he had written to commemorate the 75th birthday of
the Queen. The poem, The
notes of the Rani, may be read online here, along with a
narrative background to a memorable day in London, My visit to the Buckingham Palace.
Works
Published collections
Delusions (1995)
Thicker than water (1998) [with Wayne Dean-Richards]
The English-knowing men (1999)
The delicate falling of a God (due October 2003)
E-texts
The following poems may be read online on this website:-
Page created 9 February 2001 and last
updated 27 August 2003
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