Amrita

Diligent Candy

Diligent Candy is written and curated by Amrita Das

I am currently based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I am a PhD candidate – Promovenda at Vrije Universiteit, Faculty of Humanities. My PhD topic is The American Ghazal: an immigration of an Arabic Poetic Form (1960-2010). I am aiming (hoping) to finish in September 2017.

I was awarded the NWO Mosaic doctoral scholarship in 2012. The project contributes to the transnational turn in the humanities, which investigates how cultural influence moves across borders. My personal journey across several countries: India, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, England, Singapore, and The Netherlands, entangles with the themes that I have dealt with in my PhD dissertation. Namely, the changes occurring from border crossing; in the definition of home, in the different understanding of gender, in self awareness and expression of sexuality, in complicated intersectionality, and in the representation of race and ethnicity.

I am also a Lecturer and have taught Changing World: New Voices, New Genres, as well as British Literature 1900 to present, at the VU. I believe in safe classrooms and active learning environments.

Prior to my academic career, I worked in corporate communications. I have over fourteen years of international experience in the field. I have worked on accounts ranging from Microsoft to Be:Fashion. I immensely enjoy writing and am working towards my first complete fictional work. I also fuel my creativity with freelance-voluntary feature writing for India Nu magazine based in Amsterdam.

I like reading, poetry, visuality, photography, drawing and painting, being home, cooking for friends and family, dining out, swimming, gardening, writing, developing better organisational skills (KonMari), watching movies and TV shows, and going for long walks.

This is my personal website, for access to me professionally: click here