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Former Bahrain resident Arnab Sengupta has published his third book, filled with poems based on his experiences growing up as a teenager in the kingdom before moving to the UK for his higher studies.
The 18-year-old poet, who grew up in India, Bahrain and the UK, published Luminescence: 50 Poems, umpTEEN Hues recently, dealing with more mature themes than his debut book Iridescence – 50 Poems by a Teenage Dreamer, released in 2020.
“I think my writing deals with more mature themes now, so it has been categorised as young adult rather than kids’ poetry,” Arnab, who is currently pursuing his education in London, told GulfWeekly.
“My vocabulary has expanded considerably and my style has evolved, however, my introspective writing process has remained consistent.”
As GulfWeekly previously reported in 2020, Arnab’s first book Iridescence reflected four themes - the hidden world, the blues, hope and relationships.
His latest book is divided into six sections.
“From truth-revealing poems that illuminate the ‘lightbulb’ in our minds, to the poems that do ‘firefighting’ required to extinguish the fires of the world; from the ‘daydreaming’ poems that shine a light on my soul, to ‘pentapoetic’, a special section that deals with five poems that were written in the span of 30 minutes about the emotions I felt in that pocket of time; from the poems that were dedicated to the people who showed me the light like ‘fireflies’, to the poems about radiant love that burns yet soothes like the ‘sunflowers’ flourishing in the gardens of the world, these poems paint a journey from the darkness of uncertainty to the light of introspection and self-consciousness,” the young writer explained.
“As this book was named after the phenomenon of producing light without heat, I wanted each of the sections to be named after sources of light.
“I did come up with them in hindsight, as I usually do with my poetry.
“I never limit myself to certain topics, and really write about a lot of things. Sections are made in hindsight, once the time to generalise them arrives. But the poems overlap between sections.”
Having lived in Bahrain for nearly five years, Arnab moved to the UK earlier this year with his parents.
In addition to Iridescence, he has also previously published a novel NOMD – Will Five Teenagers Save the Planet Earth’.
“I write whenever an idea strikes me,” he explained, when asked about his writing habits.
“I write very often, in fact, I cannot imagine a week without writing. I find my inspiration in everyday things. In the minutiae of everyday life. I think we often ignore these ‘ordinary’ moments and simply look for beauty elsewhere, whilst all this time, the beauty was in these moments that we ignored so carelessly.
“As a writer, I want to capture the essence of these moments and show the world the beauty of life itself so they can appreciate it more often.
“Sadness arises, according to me, when we fail to appreciate our life.”
Arnab has won several poetry prizes, including ‘Outstanding Gen Z Poet’ by Dr Anamika, the first female poet to win the Sahitya Akademi Award, one of the highest honours for poets in India.
He is also a musician, and has released a number of singles including Sunflower, Dead End, One Man Show, Memories, and Secret Crush.
Luminescence was officially launched at Harbour Hotel, St Ives, UK by James Murphy, the Europe-focused leader for Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, alongside storyteller and researcher Serena Rosaria.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Arnab is already working on his next project, which deals with loss.
“Loss is something humans find difficult to comprehend, and how much ever we try to fix ourselves, just like we try to fix a broken pot, there’s a sliver that just is lost into the sands of time,” he explained.
“This next project tries to capture that, and deals with how to deal with loss.”
Luminescence: 50 Poems, umpTEEN Hues by Arnab Sengupta is now available on Amazon.
