A DIFFERENT DISTANCE: A RENGA

A DIFFERENT DISTANCE: A RENGA

A Different Distance is a moving and intimate collection of collaborative poetry created during the unprecedented period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the ancient Japanese poetic form of renga, poets Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Naïr capture a year of uncertainty, isolation, resilience and shared humanity.

📖 About the Book

In March 2020, as the world entered lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, poets and friends Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Naïr began exchanging verses. Though they lived only miles apart, circumstances kept them physically separated, inspiring a remarkable poetic conversation during an extraordinary moment in history.

Drawing from the Japanese tradition of renga, a collaborative poetry form built through alternating verses, the collection follows the themes of toki (this season) and toza (this session). Across changing seasons marked by the rise and fall of the pandemic, their poems explore the experiences that both separated and connected people worldwide.

The poems reflect a suspended world where uncertainty existed alongside everyday persistence. They capture moments of loneliness and solidarity, personal struggles and collective endurance. The collection touches upon illness, cancer and chemotherapy, ageing, grief over lost friends and concern for loved ones across countries including the United States, Lebanon and India.

At the heart of A Different Distance lies a profound sense of shared humanity—the recognition that despite physical separation, people remain connected by common emotions, memories and experiences.

Both poignant and playful, this remarkable collection presents the compassionate wisdom of two poets witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime moment and transforming distance into a space of connection and understanding.

✨ Key Highlights

• A unique poetic collaboration created during the COVID-19 lockdown.
• Uses the traditional Japanese renga form of shared poetry.
• Explores themes of isolation, resilience, grief and human connection.
• Captures the emotional landscape of a historic global crisis.
• A blend of personal reflection and collective experience.
• A moving work for readers interested in poetry, memory and humanity.

✍️ About the Authors

Marilyn Hacker is an acclaimed poet and translator, and the author of fourteen books of poetry, including Blazons and A Stranger’s Mirror, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. She has also written collaborative works such as Diaspo/Renga with Deema K. Shehabi and the essay collection Unauthorized Voices.

She has served as editor of the Kenyon Review and the French literary journal Siècle 21. Her honours include the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, the PEN/Voelcker Award and the international Argana Prize for Poetry.

Karthika Naïr is a poet, playwright, fabulist and librettist known for her innovative literary works. Her acclaimed book Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata won the Tata Literature Live Award for Book of the Year.

She is also the author of Les Oiseaux électriques de Pothakudi, which received the Prix Felipé for ecological children’s literature. Naïr is the co-founder of choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Eastman dance company and has played a significant role in promoting contemporary dance through initiatives such as the Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards (PECDA).

📚 Why Read This Book?

A Different Distance is a powerful poetic record of a world transformed by uncertainty. Through the voices of two exceptional poets, the book reveals how art, friendship and compassion can bridge physical separation and help us find meaning in challenging times.