Mapping Home - A Collection of Poems
MAPPING HOME takes readers on a poetic journey through the collaborative works of Savita Krishnamoorthy and her 17 year old son, Arjun Nagamangalam.
The collection of verses invites the reader to pause, reflect on their memories, and appreciate the magic of life's most ordinary moments.
The poems gently nudge one to delight in the fragrance of a sweet dessert, the majesty of a beloved mountain, the ethereal light of dawn, the haunting melodies from the piano that fill a home, the resilience of family love through unimaginable grief, and what Home means in all its complexities. Does it dwell Inside/Outside, or in the spaces in between?
Arjun's poems trace a trajectory of growth and insights spanning his life from 8 to 16 years, to "collect all the pieces of my life and map the journey I have taken thus far."
Cover Art: Savita Krishnamoorthy
Cover Design: Kyrie Tong
🛒 Purchase Options*
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➡️ REVIEWS
*100% of proceeds go to Amrita Seattle's Reading Program to fund their children's library in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, India.
Amrita-Seattle is a 501(c)3 international non-profit dedicated to serving vulnerable children and communities in utmost rural India.
My poetry in other publications
You Don't Belong - Ravens Perch - May 22, 2025
SAVITA KRISHNAMOORTHY is an art historian, writer, organizer, and educator from India, based in Redmond, WA. She is a founding member and co-organizer of Black Cinema Collective, a Washington-based group of multicultural artists+scholars who screen, interrogate, and celebrate works of African and Afro-diasporic filmmakers.
Her writing publications include The Times of India, Feminist Media Histories (Univ. of California Press), Courageous Creativity, and Black Embodiment Studio Journal. Savita is a cultural critic and reviewer for the International Examiner, Seattle, where she shares her insights on literary and artistic offerings in the Pacific Northwest.
Follow my Author page on Facebook
Reflections on this and that - Substack
Pic Credit: John Ludeman
PUBLICATIONS
The International Examiner
Interviews
Discovering voices from the margins: An interview with Seattle’s Civic Poet Shin Yu Pai Civic Poet Shin-Yu Pai
Interview with Ragamala Dance Company’s Ranee Ramaswamy ahead of Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim performance at UW
Poet Sati Mookherjee and Savita Krishnamoorthy in conversation - EYE
Artist Satpreet Kahlon interrogates constructs of displacement and belonging in new exhibit Kahlon - a boundary, a demarcation
Poet Justine Chan weaves together folktales, eco-grief - Should You Lose All Reason(s)
Aparna Nancherla - Unreliable Narrator
Tetreez and Tea - Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim and Wafa Ghnaim
Nadia Ahmed - Pakistani-American multi-disciplinary artist
Myths to Mundane - Shruti Ghatak contextualizes India’s plural cultural heritage, reinterpreting ancient epic texts alongside indigenous folklore.
Art Reviews
Embodied Change - South Asian Art Across Time - The human body is the leitmotif in exhibit ‘Embodied Change: South Asian Art Across Time
Fight Like a Girl - Humaira Abid
the inscrutable shape of longing - Satpreet Kahlon’s ‘the inscrutable shape of longing’ exhibit at the Bellevue Art Museum navigates sociopolitical struggle, personal inquiry.
she walked in reverse and found their songs - Suchitra Mattai's SAAM exhibit ‘she walked in reverse and found their songs’ is a sumptuous symphony of color.
Book Reviews
Burning My Roti - Queer activist Sharan Dhaliwal’s book tells truths about privilege, body image, sexuality, and patriarchy
Dadaji's Paintbrush - a tender kid’s book of love, loss and renewal of hope
Roots and Wings - shows young brown and black girls that they are seen, heard and valued
Katha Chest - a heartwarming tale of home, memory, and childhood
She Sang for India - a tribute to legendary Indian classical singer, M. S. Subbulakshmi
Lengtonghoih, The Girl Who Wanted the Brightest Star - a folktale of indigenous Paite people of Manipur
What a Desi Girl Wants - aYA novel of self-discovery, queer romance, and family
My Name is as long as a River - encourages kids to celebrate our differences
Three Picture Books Explore Family Traditions, Stories, and Cultural Histories
Amil and the After - A 12-year-old processes the trauma and violence of the India-Pakistan Partition
Secrets of the Sky - A children’s fantasy exploring the environmental issues plaguing us
The Flowering Desert – Textiles from Sindh - A photographic record of the stunning textiles, embroidery, and weaving traditions of Pakistan’s Sindh region
Film Reviews
Writing with Fire - shows the groundbreaking work of the all-women journalism team in India, Khabar Lahariya
18th Tasveer South Asian Film Festival (TSAFF) - TSAFF 2023 becomes first and only South Asian film festival to qualify for the Oscars
Essays
(IN)VISIBLE PRESENCE REMEMBRANCE | RESISTANCE
Black Embodiment Studio Journal- Issue 3- 2019-2020
(Re)Imagined Possibilities: The Resilience of the Black Woman Griot, Zeinabu Irene Davis in Conversation. Feminist Media Histories 1 January 2021; 7(1) - 81-114.Feminist Media Histories, Vol 7, Issue 1. University of California Press, 2021.
Readings + Events
✨ Rhymes and Tales - Yuganugoonj California - December 8, 2024
✨ Indie Author Night - Brick and Mortar, Redmond - June 3, 2024
✨ Reading at RASP - May 26, 2023
✨ Reading at University of Washington, Bothell - MACS Research Conference - May, 20th 2023
✨ Reading at RASP - April 28, 2023
Indie Author Night - Brick and Mortar, Redmond - June 3, 2024
Reading at Redmond Association of Spoken Word (RASP) April, 2023
Opened the Masters in Cultural Studies Research Conference, University of Washington, Bothell with a poem from Mapping Home. May, 2023
University of Washington, Bothell
Rhymes and Tales - Yuganugoonj California
Centrum Artists' Residency Library, Port Townsend, WA
Pic: Berette Macaulay
Community love+support🙏🏽♥️
Community love+support🙏🏽♥️
Brick+Mortar Books Indie Author Night, Redmond, WA
Brick+Mortar Books Indie Author Night, Redmond, WA
