Mumbai, July 3: Mumbai-based poet, writer, and multidisciplinary artist Devangana Mishra has released her debut poetry and art compilation, Desierto Florido, today.
Desierto Florido is Spanish for “flowering desert” which weaves poetry, visual art, and photography into a single immersive work. Drawing on poetic traditions from oral chants and collective recitation to the formalised Italian sonnet, the collection invites readers to slow down and rediscover language as a shared, sensory act. In an era of accelerated attention and compressed communication, it makes a case for depth over speed.
“A flowering desert is a contradiction, and that’s exactly the point. Beauty insists on happening even in the most unlikely conditions. That’s what art does, and that’s what this book is about,” said Devangana Mishra, Author. “I’ve spent my life at the intersection of art and the human experience like in classrooms, on stages, in communities, and Desierto Florido is where all of that quietly comes together.”
Mishra has also written of 26, Kamala Nehru Ridge, Civil Lines, Delhi, a verse novel that earned wide critical acclaim for its nuanced portrayal of pre-independence India. Her next work, the novel May I Bombay? – the story of Savitri Dhavale in a rapidly changing 1980s Bombay and is expected in 2027.
She is the Founder and CEO of Brain Bristle, a Mumbai-based foundation championing inclusion for students on the autism spectrum in low-income schools and communities.