Author of books of poetry, translations and religious studies. 

Managing Editor, Translated Poetry, The Bombay Literary Magazine [issue 55 onwards]. 

BOOKS: 

Poetry

So That You Know. (HarperCollins 2025)

Love Me In A Hurry/Bega Preethsu Nanna (Atta Galatta 2022)

Sing to Me—Poems on Greek Myths (Recent Work Press 2019)

New & Selected Poems (Poetrywala 2014) 

Translations 

Kalidasa — Selected Poetry and Drama (HarperCollins 2025). Forthcoming.

Slow Down, River by Anamika. Translated from Hindi. (Red River Press 2025) Forthcoming.

Bhagavad Gita: God’s Song. Translated from Sanskrit. (HarperCollins 2023) 

Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty (HarperCollins 2022) 

Academic

Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience Today. (Palgrave-Macmillan 2019) 

[Out of Print] 

Echolocation (Math Paper Press 2014. Chameleon Press 2003)

Ghostmasters (Chameleon Press) 

100 Poems—Selected Poems 1985-2005 (Chameleon Press 2005) 

Salt (Asia 2000: Hong Kong, 2000) 

The Last Beach (Asia 2000, 1999) 

Living Shadows. (HKADC, 1997) 

Catapult Season (Writers Workshop 1993) 

Wing Span. (Writers Workshop 1987) 

Translations of my poems have been published— In Hindi translated by Anamika, and separately by Ranjiet Sarpal. In Kannada translated by Prathibha Nandakumar. .In Latin translated by Adrienne Ho. In Italian translated by Antonia Padula. In Korean translated by Joon Soo Bong. In Chinese translated by Huang Chan Lan. In Arabic translated by Sayed Gouda. In French translated by Gérard Henry. In German translated by Monika Gomille. 

IN ANTHOLOGIES including: 

HarperCollins Book of English Poetry by Indians. Penguin Sixty Indian Poets. The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. W.W. Norton Language for a New Century : Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Zoland Poetry Anthology. Where Else—An international Hong Kong Poetry anthology. Yearbook of Indian Poetry 2022, 2023, 2024. Divining Dante Anthology. Desde Hong Kong: Poets in conversation with Octavio Paz. Poetry Live! Anthology of poetry for Hong Kong schools. 

IN JOURNALS including: 

Almost Island. Indian Literature. Chandrabhaga. Verseville. Durgapur Review. The Bombay Literary Magazine. Sunflower Collective. Yapanchitra. Kavya Bharati. Poetry at Sangam. Osmania Journal of English Studies. Caesurae Poetics of Cultural translation. Scroll. Open Magazine. New Indian Express. Asia Literary Review. Cha. QLRS. Softblow. Dimsum. Interim. Fulcrum. Omniverse. Anomalous Press. Mascara. Colorado Review. The Literary Review. Desilit. Tinfish. XCP. Cordite. Meanjin. JAAM. Takahe. Oxford Magazine. 91st Meridien. Iowa Review. HOW2. Fourth River. Washington Square. In Posse Review. Filling Station. Wasafiri. Papertiger. Nth Position. Religions. Religion Compass. Translation Review. Thoreau Society Bulletin. In-Between Journal of Literary Criticism. eXchanges. 

[Full list of publications in downloadable pdf file “Bibliography” on manirao.com] 

Grants, Fellowships, Residencies: 

2019 Poet in Residence, International Poetic Studies Institute, University of Canberra 

2018 Omi Ledig House, Fall Residency. 

2015 Finalist for the Lucien Stryk Prize, American Literary Translators Association 

2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 Kearns Gurney-Harris summer grant 

2010 Witter-Bynner grant for Bhagavad Gita translation 

2006 University of Iowa International Programs 2006 Writer-in-Residence 2005, 2009 Visiting Fellow, Iowa International Writing Program, University of Iowa 

On the Jury for: 

2023 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, Australia. 

2023 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize, India. 

2021 Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Prize for Fiction, India. 2021 Windham Campbell Prize for Poetry, USA. 

2018 Cliff Becker Poetry Prize, American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), USA. 

2014 Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) Creative Writing Awards, India 2012 Lucien Stryk Prize for American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), USA 

Participation in Cultural and Literary festivals including: 

Jaipur Literature Festival. Bangalore Literature Festival. Bengaluru Poetry Festival. Hindu Lit for Life Chennai. Lekhana Bangalore. Chair Poetry Evenings, Kolkata. Times LitFest Bangalore. Kerala Literature Festival Kozhikode. Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters Thiruvananthapuram. Kalinga Literary Festival Bhubaneshwar. International Festival of Spiritual India Pune. Pune International Literary Festival. Mystic Kalinga Bhubaneshwar. Odisa Literary Festival Bhubaneshwar. Hyderabad Literary Festival. Shakti Kumbh Rishikesh. Pondicherry-Auroville Poetry Festival. Kritya International Poetry Festival Thiruvananthapuram. ThinkEdu Conclave Chennai. Bhakti—Many Voices, Many Ways, Pune. Kala Ghoda Arts Festival Mumbai. Apeejay Kolkata Literary festival. Majha House. 

Bowery Poetry Club New York. The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Vancouver Asian Heritage Month. Cairo Atelier Hong Kong Festival. Chicago Humanities Festival. New York PEN World Voices. Vegas Valley Book Festival. The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Wordfeast Singapore International Poetry Festival. The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Eye on Books British Council Hong Kong. City Festival Hong Kong. Asian Writers Conference, Creighton University, Omaha, USA. 

Presentations, Lectures, Workshops or Readings at: 

American Comparative Literature Association Conference (ACLA) Harvard University. Chatham University, Pittsburgh USA; American Literary Translators Association Conferences, USA. Chinese University of Hong Kong. University of Iowa. Black Mountain Institute Las Vegas. Hong Kong University. Vidyashilp University Bangalore. Mt Carmel College Bangalore. National Law School of India University Bangalore. Osmania University Center of Advanced Research and Training in Translation and Multilingualism Hyderabad [OU Arts College, PG College, Koti Women’s College], Rishi Valley School. 

Taught Creative Writing—Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad. University of Nevada Las Vegas. Chinese University of Hong Kong. Poetry and translation workshops at Bengaluru Poetry Festival, Glasshouse Festival, Hyderabad Literary Festival, etc.

Host and Curation— Co-founded OutLoud Poetry Readings in Hong Kong. Radio host for “Time for Poetry” on RTHK Radio 4. 

ACADEMIC DEGREES: 

2016. PhD, Religious Studies, Duke University. [Began PhD at Emory University in 2010, transferred to Duke in 2011] 

2010. MFA Creative Writing, University of Nevada Las Vegas 

1985. BA English, Stella Maris College Madras, India 

* 

LIFE, WORK, LOCATIONS: 

I was born in Mumbai in 1965 and went to Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in Rawatbhata (Rajasthan) and Kalpakkam (Tamilnadu). My B.A. was in English with Sanskrit as the second subject at Stella Maris College Madras (1982-85). 

Between 1986 and 1992, I worked as a Copywriter and Associate Creative Director in advertising agencies—briefly in Chennai, and mainly in Mumbai including at Nexus Advertising, Trikaya Grey (1997-1991) and Hindustan Thompson Associates. In 1993, I moved to Hong Kong to freelance and partnered in a creative consultancy. By way of my then-partner, New Zealand became a second home, where I lived during 2005. In 1995, we returned to Hong Kong and I began to work for Star TV’s off-air creative department. 

Working at Star TV for the next nine years, I was Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Corporate Communications. My professional portfolio includes Star TV rebranding, Star Movies rebranding, Channel [V] launch promos, and the campaign for Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to Be A Millionaire). 

During this 20-year career in India and Hong Kong, my literary activities were parallel to my professional life. 

2003-2004 brought personal and professional changes. I stopped working in media and after some years of traveling, spiritual pursuits and writing fellowships,  I began to focus on literary and scholarly interests. Between 2007 and 2016, I did an MFA and PhD in the USA, and then returned to India. I now live in Bengaluru and Puttaparthi with my life-partner, John aka Jaideva. 

* 

Language and writing has been at the center of my life, whether making a livelihood from it in media and marketing, or writing and writing about literature. In 2005, invited writing fellowships in Iowa followed by an MFA made me more informed as well as qualified to teach poetry; fortuitously, it also led to a serious engagement with translation in a translation theory course. I found that translations of the Gita fell short of the textural delights of the original, began to do research and retranslated the Gita. By then, I was steeped in the study of early Indian sources and went on to do a PhD in Religious Studies. 

Early Indian thinking positions sound and syllables as the very material of creation, and mantra (sacred sound-formulas) as the medium and instruments of creation and transformation—my PhD dissertation was in the experience and poetics of mantra practice. An all-round Indological understanding also came from vedic hermeneutics, tantrism and shaktism, Buddhism, historiography, postcolonial theory, modernity and ethnography/anthropology. Whereas Sanskrit studies gave me the ability to do textual research in early sources, anthropology cultivated respect for the practical and contemporary world. 

I see myself as a poet and translator who relies on research, a researcher with an inclination for the literary, and a scholar keen to blend the theoretical with the empirical and pragmatic. 

* 

Community service. 

All copyright and royalties from my books belong to a private charitable trust called “Mani Rao Foundation.” The trust sponsors education for school and college students and some creative writing awards in India. Together with me, Karuna Sivasailam and Sujata Mukherjee are trustees of Mani Rao Foundation. 

Contact and Links 

Email: emailmanirao@gmail.com 

Website: www.manirao.com 

Follow Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/mani.rao.poem Follow on Academia.edu: https://independent.academia.edu/ManiRao