Mbizo Chirasha: Who is Megha Sood in terms of poetry, writing, and literature?

Mbizo Chirasha is the founder of the "Writing Ukraine Prize" and a UNESCO-RILA affiliate Artist. He has held fellowships and residencies in Germany, USA, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Sweden. He edits and curates several literary platforms, including Time of the Poet Republic and Brave Voices. Author of "A Letter to the President", his works appear in over 200 journals worldwide, including "The Evergreen Review", "Poetry London", and "FemAsia Magazine".

Megha Sood: I'm a self-taught artist passionate about growth, both as a writer and as a human being. I have pivoted from a 12-year-long successful career as a Project Manager in Business Intelligence to my passion for creative writing and activism in the last seven years. I have worked with numerous international and national literary organizations in the capacity of poet, editor, curator, judge, and literary activist, which has led to the publication of four poetry collections, six co-edited anthologies, and 900+ works in journals and magazines around the world. 
Being a literary activist and a poet, I have contributed heavily to socially conscious anthologies that generate revenues for organizations supporting these issues. Keeping with the mission to raise awareness about social inequalities and build communities of empowered creatives, I have co-edited two award-winning anthologies featuring the work of women creatives across the globe, namely The Kali Project (Indie Blue Publishing) and The Medusa Project (Mookychick). 
Both projects have received international recognition. “The Medusa Project” has been selected as a digital payload as part of a historic project, LunarCodex, and has been sent to the moon in 2025 in three rocket missions. The project landing site, in addition to receiving press mentions in the New York Times, CNN, BBC, Smithsonian, Vogue, Guardian, etc, has also been declared as an Artemis Accords Heritage Site, signed by 53 countries to date, thus preserving humanity’s outer space heritage.
Poetry has not only been my creative outlet but has also opened doors to various roles, including editor, curator, spoken word jury member, workshop facilitator, and panelist with numerous academic and literary organizations globally. One of the notable projects includes the Life in Quarantine Project by CESTA ( Center of Textual and Spatial Analysis), Stanford University. At the core of the project is an open, online historical archive that houses personal written accounts in a wide range of languages from various countries.
In addition to being a poet and editor, I also serve as an Advocacy Member with various arts and literary organizations such as the United Nations Association, National League of American Pen Women, and ArtPride NJ (which serves as the art service provider for 300+ organizations at the state level). These positions give me a brilliant opportunity to work with our creative community art leaders both at the grassroots and national levels, which further helps me to generate arts support and arts advocacy.

FlowerSong Press

Language of the Wound is Love | Megha Sood | FlowerSong Press | 112 pages | 18 USD

Your poetry embodies human experiences, human soul, language, and human body. Is that your literary ideologue, or are there any intentions behind your writing style?

I strongly believe that an artist’s role is not only about self-expression and introspection but also about documenting and acting as custodians of their culture for future generations. In the words of the great American poet, writer, and professor, Sonia Sanchez, “All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, 'Something's wrong, let's change it for the better. 
I also see poetry as a gateway to other creative arts. Literary Arts have always worked in tandem with other forms of visual and performing arts. No artist can exist in isolation, and poetry provides a method for interconnectedness, simultaneously providing you a safe space and catharsis. 
Poetry and the Arts have always permeated social movements. It has a social relevance because it is effective as a means of activism, and it stimulates empathy, and empathy is integral to achieving social justice. To me, poetry has always acted as a vehicle for social change and will continue to do so. 

Through my reading of you and your body of work, I see you have bagged several poetry accolades that include awards, fellowships, and other literary glitz. How have been the experiences and possibly the challenges you met on your way to literary stardom?

Thank you for your generous reading of my work. I consider myself more of a witness and a vessel than a star—someone who writes from the margins as a woman, person of color, and a first-generation immigrant, and carries the mission to be the voice of the unspoken and unheard.
The journey has been deeply personal and, at times, emotionally and logistically demanding. Poetry came to me as a way of navigating angst and helplessness because of the social injustice in the world -- affecting me directly and indirectly-- has since evolved into a space for resistance, healing, and advocacy.
Over time, recognitions such as receiving the “Certificate of Excellence” from the Jersey City Mayor and being inducted into the prestigious Marquis Who’s Who in America alongside figures like President Barack Obama, Warren Buffett, and Malala Yousafzai have affirmed my mission as a literary activist. But the path hasn’t been without its hurdles. As a woman of color and an immigrant writer balancing motherhood, a writing career, and editorial commitments, I’ve often had to carve space in an industry that can be exclusionary and saturated with gatekeeping.
Yet, every challenge reaffirmed my purpose. I found strength in community, in collaboration, and in creating platforms for others through my editorial work. My activism and poetry are entwined—they feed each other. The true reward has never been the accolades, but the moments when a reader at an event reaches out and says, “Your words made me feel seen.” That’s the heart of it all.

How many awards have you won so far, mention a few and elaborate a little about them?

Over the past seven years, since I began submitting my work to book awards, contests, and poetry prizes, I have been recognized in nearly 45 different competitions, earning distinctions as a winner, finalist, and honorable mention across various levels.
Among the poetry contests and prizes, my notable prize is winning first place at the National Level for the Poetry Matters Project for my poem “Peace - A Metaphor for Denial,” which validated my writing as a literary activist. Later, the opportunity of winning the State Level NAMI NJ Dara Axelrod Poetry Award four times and also serving as a judge for the fifth year was highly satisfying. My poetry has also been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net four times, with the honor of being aired twice at the WNYC Studio Morning edition during National Poetry Month. Among the book awards, my poetry collection “My Body Lives Like a Threat” bagged first place in the Best Book Awards, and was also a finalist in seven other national book awards.
As an editor, my co-edited anthology “The Kali Project” was also a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Book Award and was added as a reference in the Journal for Commonwealth Literature, and my co-edited anthology “The Muedusa Project” was sent to the moon in 2025 as a digital payload in collaboration with NASA.  In addition to these accolades, I’m also a Recipient of the “Certificate of Excellence” from Mayor Stephen Fulop, Jersey City.

The title of your latest book is both paradoxical and allegorical: “Language of the Wound is Love.” What is the driving force of such a blockbuster?

“Language of the Wound is Love” primarily deals with poems reflecting the pain and loss of first-generation immigrants losing their primary language while trying to fit their hyphenated identities. It highlights the fact that every wound inflicted because of gender or sex-based discrimination, the feeling of loss and belonging of immigrant families, the pain of isolation during the pandemic, or discrimination based on gender or color, has a hunger for love. Its language is love. Love is the acceptance everyone is feverishly seeking in this topsy-turvy world, hence the title. This collection highlights my journey, gives it a voice, and strengthens the fact that every wound has a language that needs love and patience intermixed with sagacious interpretation.
My poem “My Identity as First Generation Immigrant” brings out the angst of a first-generation immigrant.

My Identity as a First-Generation Immigrant

Empathy stems from the mouth of love, of hunger, of acceptance
an incessant desire to be known as a countryman in a town full of 

wonders. A land of opportunity, as told by toothy-grinned ancestors.
I hear your wails in the thicket of night, heat rising through my spine,

leaving my walnut skin pocked with welts and blisters—another day of spineless crime.
Little difference does language make if the heart is emptied of compassion—

Protection takes a different meaning when the protectors start to devour.
I curl my words as your name slips and falls off my tongue.

Like a sin in this country, built on borrowed hopes and desires,
crouched and shriveled, shrinking our existence a little bit more, every time.

Treading narrow streets filled with slurs resting on forked tongues and 
bent spines, carrying silver-etched dreams of my ancestors with

throats laced with parables of truth. Soft hands with sweet bay leaf 
fragrance, holding a sepia-tinged, tattered book, carrying the love for generations.

My identity carved as a first-generation immigrant in a land built 
on the calloused hands that are painted with silvery dreams of kingdoms to come.

Most of your books, poetry, and writings touches /dwells on love, song and dance, and body, and how many books have you written so far, and how are they received?

Since starting my creative writing journey, I have been the author and co-author of eight award-winning books and anthologies, including the award-winning (My Body Lives Like a Threat, FlowerSong Press, 2022), (My Body is Not an  Apology, Finishing Line Press, 2021)  and the recent (Language of the Wound is Love, FlowerSong Press, 2025). I also co-edited two award-winning anthologies ( The Medusa Project, Mookychick, UK) and (The Kali Project, Indie Blu(e) Press). I also co-edit the annual  Brownstone Poets Anthology since 2021. 
The books and the anthologies have been received warmly by the creative community as they were part of various panels, workshops, literary festivals, and were included in libraries, historical societies, and universities locally and globally. 

Have you ever presented, taught, or spoken your poetry in Universities, Cultural Institutions, and schools, and how are you received in these spaces?

I acted as a Literary partner for the Life in Quarantine Project, Stanford University, responsible for curating the works from the literary community for the “Words in Quarantine” section of the project.  The archive features the works of 120+ creatives across the works, including and not limited to the presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco, award-winning poets such as Terrance Hayes, Kaveh Akbar, Naomi Shihab Nye, and many more. The project was presented at the Open Education Global Forum 2020 and received mention in the  Stanford Daily. 
In addition to this, I have facilitated workshops with various universities and colleges including the Strategic Arts Education and School of Social Justice, Columbia University, in collaboration with The Confined Arts (TCA), UC Merced Creative Writing Students as part of the San Francisco Creative Writing University, Seminar at the Poetry Seminar at the historic Poe Cottage with Bronx County Historical Society etc.
My collaboration with cultural institutions includes poetry readings/discussions at the New York Historical Society, Hoboken Historical Museum alongside NY Yankee Poet, Frank Messina, and Emmy-Nominated, reg e gaines, a panel discussion for Speicher-Rubin Women's Center's 50th Anniversary at the NJCU School of Business.
My creative works have been selected in the literary publications of various national and international universities like Howard University, Temple University, George Mason University, Stanford University, CUNY, UPenn, University of Albany, Kent State University, Chicago University, Delhi University, Lucknow University, Arkansas Tech University, among others.

How often do you read and as well write, and what kind of environment inspires you to both read and write?

I have written at the most inappropriate place and the most ungodly hour, so to speak. The inspiration can either come from a song on the radio, a sudden change in weather, or any poem/book I might be reading.
As quoted by Friedrich Nietzsche, “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” To me, the most difficult part of writing poetry is taming that disorder in your mind in such a way that it gives birth to beautiful poetry rather than getting lost in the chaos and dissonance. Being an artist is a very vulnerable state to be in. Expressing my deep and vulnerable emotions to a judgmental world is the bravest form of expression.

Who are your best poets, and the ones whose writings make them sit on the edge?

I always resort to my poetry bible by eminent American Poet, Writer, Professor, and founder of the MFA program at the University of Virginia, Gregory Orr, “A Primer of Poets and Readers of Poetry”. This book explains the nuances and art of poetry in the lives of young poets while excitingly introducing the art. Also, I often refer to the imagist poems of German Poet Jan Wagner’s “The Art of Topiary” to titillate my creative senses and experience the brilliance of poetic craft.
The more I delved into the poetic world, the more it led to the inclusion of Modern and Contemporary poets in the mixture, ranging from Kaveh Akbar, Jericho Brown, Ilya Kaminsky, Anastacia Renee, Maggie Smith, Ocean Vuong, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Danusha Lameris, Patricia Smith, Joy Harjo, and many more. 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner Jericho Brown‘s “Tradition” and the revolutionary poems of Ilya Kaminsky's “The Deaf Republic'' have often been my source of writing poems with an embedded social message.
As an Indian-American diaspora poet and editor, I have also had the privilege to witness the ambitious and path-breaking works of Indian diasporic poets such as Pramila Venkateswaran, Usha Akella, Dr. Anita Nahal, Dr Ravi Shankar, Indran Amrithnayagam, Dr Afsar Mohammad, to name a few. They bring immense wealth to the literature in English through their experience as a dual cultural heritage. Also, working in the editorial capacity of numerous Arts and Literary Journals has exposed me to a diverse range of poetry. 

What are you preparing for our 2026 Poetry breakfast?

Along with the Book tour and speaking engagements for my fourth collection, “Language of the Wound is Love.”I will be working on the feminist-centric fifth collection of poetry. The collection employs feminism as its central lens, using poetry as a powerful vehicle for social justice and female empowerment. As associate editor, I will be working on bringing the next annual edition of the Brownstone Poets anthology. As an advocacy member for ArtPrideNJ, I will keep working towards arts advocacy for the NJ Arts community.

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