Bare Soul: Оголена Душа
Author: Kalpna Singh-Chitnis (Калпна Сінг-Чітніс)
Translator: Ihor Pavlyuk (Ігор Павлюк)
ISBN: 9798989660728
Publisher: River Paw Press
Page Count: 200
Language: English and Ukrainian
“Ever since Leaves of Grass first appeared in 1855, we find Walt Whitman simultaneously falsely imitated and truly manifesting in America. Who would have thought that his latest local incarnation would be in the body and soul of an exceptional woman born in Gaya, Bihar, India, where the Buddha experienced enlightenment? Yet here he is. Kalpna Singh-Chitnis’s “Bare Soul” is a rapturous ‘Song of Herself’ erupting in a time/space…” — Jack Foley, poet, author, and critic (USA)
“Magical incantations, mantras, English words that echo the phonemes of ancient tongues… Texts as if unearthed from a three-thousand-year-old manuscript by an archaeologist—or perhaps written three thousand years after us.” — Matvii Smirnov, poet (U.K.)
“Covering the contradictory pain and immensity of love, the temptation and torture of sin, and the turmoil of the creative process, the poet searches for self-realization by baring her soul in poems of rich imagery and metaphor…” — World Literature Today
“Francis Bacon once said, ‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.’ Bare Soul certainly belongs to the third category.” — Literary Quest
Following the international success of Love Letters to Ukraine from Uyava: Любовні листи до України від Уяви—recipient of the prestigious Hryhorii Kochur Award, an honor conferred by the State of Ukraine; a 2024 International Book Awards Finalist; and being archived on the Moon as part of the Polaris Collection of the Lunar Codex—River Paw Press is honored to present its second bilingual poetry collection, Bare Soul – Оголена Душа, in English and Ukrainian.
Bare Soul, the recipient of the 2017 Naji Naaman Literary Prize, written by Indian-American poet Kalpna Singh-Chitnis and translated into Ukrainian by People’s Poet of Ukraine and English PEN Award laureate, Ihor Pavlyuk (Ігор Павлюк), is a poetry collection that journeys inward through love, loss, longing, and spiritual awakening, while remaining deeply attentive to the world beyond the self.
Written in luminous, image-driven language, Bare Soul poems move through nature, memory, silence, and desire, exploring the contradictions of human life—strength and vulnerability, solitude and union, pain and renewal. Rooted in lyrical introspection and expansive in vision, Bare Soul draws on elemental imagery and philosophical reflection to create a meditative space where personal experience meets universal. Presented side by side in English and Ukrainian, the collection invites readers across languages and cultures to encounter poetry as a shared act of listening, witnessing, and transformation.
Bare Soul: Оголена Душа — Price: $19.95
U.S. release: February 1, 2026
International release: February 14, 2026
Availability & Special Offer: For a limited time, River Paw Press is offering Bare Soul – Оголена Душа at a special price of $18.00, with free shipping within the United States.
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Experience one poetry collection presented in two languages, offered together in a single bilingual volume.
