Nominated by Prof.Smita Agarwal
WE are honoured to be able to confer this award on the revered (late) Prof. Eunice de Souza, in response to Prof. Smita Agarwal’s nomination; who wrote :
I would like to nominate Indian poet writing in English, Eunice de Souza, to receive this award posthumously.
de Souza’s poems animate the world of women, in particular, middle class women in all stages of their growth and evolution. Her language is sharp and in the later poems, minimalistic. Often, for her, poetry is an instrument that lets out pain to ease the grief. Her brief, spare mature poems normally have sudden, unexpected, contrarian endings that reveal deep truths of existence. de Souza ruthlessly exposes the hypocrisies of life, but, with compassion.
In addition to her poetry, criticism and academic writing de Souza also, in a way, shaped the cultural consciousness of Bombay through her regular columns in Bombay dailies. As an educator she has shaped lives, and many women are beholden to her for the vision she has offered them.
In my considered opinion, Eunice de Souza is eminently qualified to receive this recognition. In fact, it will be a grace bestowed on the organization that recognizes de Souza’s selfless contribution to society.
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Prof. Smita Agarwal
English Dept., Allahabad University.
8 A Nyaya Marg,
Allahabad – 211001
U.P., India
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