A poetic novel by Quebec’s Yolande Villemaire, India, India chronicles an unfolding journey into the heart of contemporary India. When Montreal artist Miliana Tremblay is invited to exhibit in India, she plans an extended visit including a spiritual retreat led by the Dalai Lama. To help with her travel arrangements she contacts Dervish India Tours and is charmed by the company’s charismatic owner, Khayyal Khan. In the perplexing paradox that is contemporary India, Miliana is caught between love and fear and the colliding cultures of the First and Third worlds. Seeking solitude, she insists on travelling alone, but is poorly prepared for the realities of the colourful and sometimes maddening Sub-Continent. Khayyal Khan is also on a spiritual quest and offers friendship, but when travel arrangements go awry Miliana begins to question his integrity. Journey with Miliana, from South to North, from the Kalachakra retreat to the spice and sari markets, through the crowded streets of Delhi to the breathtaking marbles of the Taj Mahal where, in the end, love and beauty silence the unanswerable questions on this enchanting journey of discovery in the complex world of India today

Yolande Villemaire is one of Quebec’s most prolific writers, proficient in both poetry and prose. She has given poetry readings and performances around the world. Her novel La vie en prose won an award from the Journal de Montreal in 1980 and her poems, L’armoure received a Radio-Canada award in 2002. She also received a Quebec-Mexico poetry prize in 2008 and the Career Award from Quebec’s Council of Arts and Letters in 2009. Also in 2009, she was a guest of honor at the Festival de la Poésie de Montréal. She has published more than twenty-five books, four of which are available in English translation from Ekstasis Editions: Midnight Tides of Amsterdam, Poets & Centaurs, India, India and Little Red Berries. Yolande Villemaire lives in Montreal and is the director of TOTEMPOÉSIE.

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