Successful author, poet and Belmont alumna Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay took off in a van for her book and poetry album tour across America for the next six months. She is doing collaborative readings with local poets and musicians in many of the cities she’ll travel through, reserving the rest of her time for exploring America and its National Parks.
Before arriving at Belmont University to study English with a writing emphasis and history minor, Mukhopadhyay became the first ever Nashville Youth Poet Laureate.
“I was more than a little excited for what was to come and ready to learn and absorb everything I could,” she shared. “I was more grateful and appreciative of the opportunity than anything else.”
Mukhopadhyay came to Belmont University for its outstanding education and to stay close to the poetry community she found in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I have always been an avid reader and started out writing songs,” she said. “I had never considered writing poetry until I felt like some of my song ideas would be better as poems.” With this realization, she wrote three poems and submitted them to the Youth Poet competition after much encouragement from her mother. Later on, the mentorship she developed with Nashville poet Bill Brown taught her more about the craft and made her fall in love with poetry. “That has always stayed with me, especially as I begin to write more personal and vulnerable work,” Mukhopadhyay explained.
Mukhopadhyay feels that the English department at Belmont has contributed much to her ability to see reading and writing in a larger and deeper context than before.
“Having professors that gave me the desire to learn about poetry has changed my life and its trajectory,” she shared.
After completing her book and poetry album tour this year, Mukhopadhyay hopes to teach English in South America and go to graduate school in the United Kingdom.
