Roshan Doug

Roshan Doug was born in 1963 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India and studied English at Lancaster, Lancashire. After graduation, he took up an academic post in Greece, teaching English Language for the British Council. On his return to Britain (1988), he won the Cripps Hall Residential Tutorship at Nottingham University where he completed an MA in Modern English Literature.[7]

After working in private schools, FE colleges and universities, Roshan was appointed a Visiting Professor in English at Birmingham City University in 2003. In the same year he was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for his contribution to education and literature.[8] In 2015, Roshan completed his Doctorate in Education (Learning and Learning Contexts) at the University of Birmingham.

Roshan Doug's first book "Delusions" was published in 1995, and this marked him as a prominent poet of his time. The Socialist Review described him as 'a fresh and intelligent new voice' in Anglo-Asian poetry. He has been anthologised by Spouting Forth (1997), Staple (2000), and Bloodaxe in their Out of Bounds volume of poetry (2013).

Roshan's book "English-knowing Men" (1999) was nominated for the Forward Prize for the Best Collection of that year. In 2001 the Orange Studio commissioned a collection, No I am Not Prince Hamlet integrating themes of home, familiarity and cultural identity. In 2003, Roshan Doug was commissioned by Birmingham City University to produce a series of short elegies to commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York. This formed a volume titled "The Delicate Falling of a God".

In 2012 Roshan's first collection of love poems, "What Light is Light" was published by the University of Birmingham. In 2013, his poem "Mother India" was published. At the same time as a commission from the High Commission of India, it lead critics to conclude that his politics was shifting towards Indian nationalism.[7][9]

The British Library have catalogued and digitalised his work along with books, interviews and audio copies of selected poems.[10]

Roshan has been commissioned by numerous national and international organisations such as National Gallery London (1998), BBC Children in Need (2000), Birmingham Waterhall Gallery (2001), Martineau Place Birmingham (2001), Buckingham Palace for the Queen's 75th birthday (2001), The High Commission of India (2003), Adult Learners' Conference NEC Birmingham (2003), Embassy of the United States, London (2005), Graham Kershaw in 2005, and BBC Radio 4's Something Understood.[11][12][13]

In 2016, Roshan provided a report to the British Government; "BIC Government White Paper, Handwriting: Developing Pupils' Identity and Cognitive Skills"[14] and "Runnymede Trust, The Runnymede Project, School Report, London[15]

As a columnist, Roshan Doug has written various articles for national and international newspapers/publications such as The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times of India, and EasternEye. Roshan has written a wide range of papers - from The Business of Poetry for North East Wales Institute of Higher Education for their conference "The Narrative Practitioner" in 2007 to a prospective essay "Gandhi: a Punjabi perspective" for The London Review of Books in 2017, and "The British Schools' National Curriculum: English and the politics of teaching poetry from different cultures and traditions" for The Journal of Curriculum Studies in 2010.[16][17]

Roshan Doug has written and presented many art documentary features for BBC such as Infinite New Verses (recorded in China 2004), Pause for Thought, A Land of Ghosts, The Asian Single Parents (London 2006), Dreams and Goblins (India 2002), Cuba Libre (Havana 2006), and English-knowing Men on the themes in Anglo-Asian Poetry (London, 2005). His BBC programme "The Good Father" broadcast in 2004, was nominated for the Sony Radio Awards.[18]

• "Delusions" (1995), Birmingham, Charles Green Publications
• "Thicker than water" (1998) - West Midlands
• "The English-knowing Men" (1999), West Midlands, Castle View Publications
• "No, I am Not Prince Hamlet" (2001), Birmingham, Orange Studio
• "The Delicate Falling of a God" (2003), Birmingham, UCE Press
• "Illusions and Delusions and Dirty Words (2004), Birmingham, UCE Press
• "What Light is Light" (2012), Birmingham University Press, UK