“Far in the Meadows and other poems” book signing event was held on Nov 30, 2019 at Chapters Markham, Ontario. Hon. Bob Saroya, MP Markham-Unionville attended the event as chief guest. The book published by Tamarind Tree Books is a collection of ninety poems by the author Meenakshi Raina. This is her second publication after the historical fiction, “The Divine and the Destiny”.
Meenakshi Raina is a Kashmiri Pandit who was forced to leave her homeland Kashmir in 1990 due to the threats and mass killings by the terrorists. While explaining her journey as a poet and the making of her debut poetry collection, Meenakshi mentioned that some of her poems relate to the loss of her homeland and endless longing of being connected to her roots. She added that her poems are an attempt to bring the trials and tribulations, nature and beauty, love and loss in one spectrum.
Mr. Saroya congratulated Meenakshi and applauded her efforts and the five years of hard work that she put into her writing. Addressing the audience he said, “Poetry makes us feel good and the wealth of knowledge that Meenakshi brings to us through her book is going to be cherished for a long time.”
Meenakshi further expressed that her poetry is based on observation, imagination and personal experiences. While her poems bring hope and delight there are some poems that confront pain and endless longing.
The book is also available on amazon.ca and Meenakshi hopes that her book would appeal to all the readers in general and poetry lovers in particular.