Tahera Moiz Mannan

Amidst multiple roles as wife, mother, daughter-in-law, home maker and teacher the one which Tahera reserves for herself is that of a muse.

She was born to a businessman father and home maker mother in a sub-urban settlement of the city of Nagpur in central India.

This settlement, known as Mahdi Bagh, is a spiritual and mystical commune set up in the late 19th century by two enlightened souls, Malak and Badar. The natural surroundings and the deeply spiritual atmosphere of the religious institution she was born into had a profound impact on her growing up.

She came into contact with the outside world when she entered a missionary school which was also her first exposure to the Christian faith. Later, she obtained a degree in English Literature.

She married a journalist and settled down to a blissful domestic life. Motherhood made her experience a whole new range of emotions.

Her stays in the United States and the Arabian Gulf, where her husband was posted, introduced her to new cultures. It was with equal interest that she explored the Western ethos as she absorbed the Arabian-Islamic traditions.

Ten years after the birth of her first daughter, a second one came along against all odds. This miracle again changed her life. Once more, the mother’s role took eminence. Once more, deeper emotions took birth. Once more, she had new feelings to express.

Tahera had written her first poem when she was eight or nine. It was a simple rhyme, but she was proud to have created it. Gradually, poetry became a means to communicate with herself. She never wrote poems for others to read, but only to give vent to her feelings.

Thanks to the US-based Poetry Soup, Tahera decided to share her work with poetry lovers across the world. Her poems have been selected for publication by prestigious Indian and global academic and literary organisations.