About

Luv

Poet, novelist and publisher

Luv writes in Hindi and English and publishes both under the Vakrokti imprint from Mumbai. The work runs from mythic retelling to prose poetry to solo journaling games, and it keeps returning to one question: what does a word gain when it is bent away from the plain. He also makes the Vakrokti podcast and channel, where he reads and takes apart poems in Hindi.

वक्र

Vakrokti is the old Sanskrit name for the bent word, the turn that makes a sentence hold. It is the imprint every one of these books comes out under.

The books

The Last Night of the Ten-Headed KingLuv

The Last Night of the Ten-Headed King

The night before the war ends, a king who has read every scripture sits with the one question none of them answers. A retelling that stays inside Ravana's head and refuses to make him simple.

Luv

The Fourth StoneLuv

The Fourth Stone

The bridge to Lanka was built from stones that floated. This is the story of one that did not, and of the hands that kept setting it down anyway.

Luv

The Marks of My HandsLuv

The Marks of My Hands

A bilingual collection in three editions. The facing-page edition sets the Hindi and the English against each other so a reader can watch a poem think in two languages at once.

Luv

The Oracle of LoveLuv

The Oracle of Love

A shared reliquary for two people. You write to each other through prompts and chance, and what you end up with is a record of the relationship rather than a score.

Luv

The Oracle of PrudenceLuv

The Oracle of Prudence

Three hundred years of hard-eyed worldly advice turned into a game you play alone, with a pen, against your own excuses.

Luv

ShakuntalaLuv

Shakuntala

The ring is lost in the river and the king does not know you. Play the waiting, not the recognition.

Luv

Also under this roof

Luvanya BhattacharyyaFiction Shweta ShirsatCraft and method

The letter

A new poem, a note on how it was built, and word when a book is out. No more than twice a month.