SEAHORSE

                                                          
                                             By: Janice Pariat

Nehemiah is a student of English Literature at Delhi University when he first meets art historian, Doctor Nicholas Petrou who, as mentor, steers him into a world of pleasure and artistic discovery—transforming his life entirely.

Years later, during a seemingly innocuous spell in London as a Writer in Residence, the unexpected happens—lives, like passing ships, are re-illuminated. Nehemiah is plunged into a search for the people from his past: Nicholas, his step sister Myra, and even himself, the young, drifting boy changed irrevocably by his encounter with them.

Seahorse is a contemporary retelling of the story of the sea god Poseidon and his young male lover Pelops. The young men in these narratives must journey beyond themselves to wrestle free from the protective yet stifling gods of their pasts.

Seahorse traces how loss and healing, undoing and recreation, may eventually shape us into creatures of grace.

About the author:

Janice is the author of Boats on Land: A Collection of Short Stories (Random House India, 2012). She was awarded the Yuva Puraskar (Young Writer Award) from the Sahitya Akademi (Indian National Academy of Letters) and the Crossword Book Award for fiction.

She studied English Literature at St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Her work – including art reviews, cultural features, book reviews, fiction and poetry – has featured in a wide number of national magazines & newspapers. She was editor of Pyrta, an online literary journal of poetry, prose, photo essays and sketches.

Janice is currently the Charles Wallace Writer in Residence at the University of Kent, Canterbury. She lives between the UK and India.