Kota Neelima

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Kota Neelima is an Indian author, researcher and political commentator.

Overview[]

Neelima has written for Economic and Political Weekly, The Huffington Post India,^[1] The Quint, The Wire,^[2] DNA,^[3] and Hindustan Times. She also speaks at academic institutions on agricultural crisis and gender. She also participates at literary festivals like Jaipur Literary Festival,^[4] Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Dehradun Literature Festival, Odisha Literary Festival,^[5] Times LitFest,^[6] and Delhi Literary Festival. National Award-winning filmmaker Vetrimaaran has optioned one of her books, Shoes of The Dead, to be adapted into a movie.^[7] She faced threats from the Karni Sena^[8] in Rajasthan for writing an article critical of their role in women empowerment in view of their protest against the movie, Padmavat. Her research organization, Institute of Perception Studies (IPS), maps rural distress and solutions, with special focus on gender and farmer suicides. She was awarded in the Exceptional Women of Excellence category at the Women Economic Forum (WEF) 2019 .^[9]

Early life[]

Neelima was born to K. V. S. Rama Sarma, and Uma Sarma in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.^[10] She has a Ph.D in Political Science from University of Delhi, and a Master of Arts in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She has also been a Senior Research Fellow, South Asia Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.

As a journalist, Neelima covered politics for The Indian Express in Delhi and was Political Editor of The Sunday Guardian.^[11]

Author[]

Neelima has written fiction and non-fiction on the poor and women in India. Her book Widows of Vidarbha, Making of Shadows (Oxford University Press, 2018) is about widows who are left behind by suicides of farmers due to agriculture distress^[12] in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.^[13] Neelima has utilised fiction to contrast the lives of poor farmers with those of the powerful.^[14] Shoes of the Dead (Rupa Publications, 2013) is the comparison of the inheritances of two young men, a political heir and a poor farmer in India, and who wins the game for power. The examines how the poor farmers' determination to get justice for the farmer suicide of his brother, threatens to derail the political career of an ambition politician.

Neelima has written fiction and non-fiction on the poor and women in India. Her book Widows of Vidarbha, Making of Shadows (Oxford University Press, 2018) is about widows who are left behind by suicides of farmers due to agriculture distress☃☃ in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.☃☃ Neelima has utilised fiction to contrast the lives of poor farmers with those of the powerful.☃☃ Death of a Moneylender (Penguin, 2009/Reprint 2016) is the story of a young, urban journalist whose reluctance to cover rural India is a comment on the priorities of mainstream media today. This book was culum, to the Upper School students of the Collegiate School, Richmon.d, USA^[15] Her fourth book, The Honest Season (Penguin, 2016) is a critique of the state of democracy in India.^[16] Her non-fiction also includes two books on spirituality. One of them, Tirupati: A Guide to Life (Penguin, 2012) has been translated into Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

Publications[]

Books[]

• Widows of Vidarbha Making of Shadows, Oxford University Press, (2018) Non-Fiction
• The Honest Season, Penguin (2015) Fiction
• Shoes of the Dead, Rupa Publications (2013) Fiction
• Riverstones, Penguin (Reprint/2016) Fiction
• Death of a Moneylender, Penguin (Reprint/2016) Fiction

Spirituality[]

• Tirupati: A Guide to Life, Penguin (2012) Non-Fiction
• Tirumala: Sacred Foods of God, Roli Publications (2017) Non-Fiction

Chapter in edited books[]

• Tirupati: The God for a Modern Age in "Travelling In, Travelling Out: A Book of Unexpected Journeys" Edited by Namita Gokhale (2014)

Articles[]

• Widows of Farmer Suicide Victims in Vidarbha, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.53, Issue No. 26-27, 30 June 2018, pp. 24–31.
• 'Right to Recall' Reform Experience in Madhya Pradesh, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.LII, No. 13, 1 April 2017, pp. 24–26.

Painter[]

Neelima is also a painter.^[17] Her works are imist-abstract and the medium in oil on canvas. She follows an elaborate artistic process of making the works, which begins with extensive research of ancient Indian texts, which forms the theme of her works. This is followed by charcoal drawings on paper before, finally, converting the images into oil paintings. Her works are informed by the rich tradition of skepticism in the Indian philosophical thought, and seek to re-imagine Upanishadic questions to themes of causation, creation and karma. The symbols used in the paintings are trees, sky, the moon and birds, which undergo multi-faceted and complex redefinition.

Neelima is also a painter.☃☃ Her latest work, Metaphors of the Moon,^[18] charts the trajectories of the mind as it travels from absence to presence in an eternal cycle. Her work has been featured at the Lalit Kala Akademi and the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, and in art shows in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata.^[19] Her work has also been featured at international exhibitions, including The Nehru Centre, London, Museum, and China Art Museum, National Museum of Fine Arts, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.^[20]

See also[]

• List of Indian writers
• List of Indian women writers
• List of Indian women artists

References[]

External links[]

• Kota Neelima at Penguin India