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The Salt of Something New is the debut of Dublin-based poet Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. The poems explore love and attraction, excitement and disappointment, responding to the city both as homeplace and as the site of ongoing discoveries and negotiations.Throughout, there is a lightness of touch and a precision that reminds us of the poet’s abiding interest in science and nature, the fruits of which further extend the range of this memorable debut. (Pat Boran, Dedalus Press)

"[A] fresh and powerful collection of poems. The voice is electric, its sense of urgency hammered to a gleam of language and rhythm both arresting and moving.”
-Mary O’Donnell

“[A] moving mosaic of home … Exultant, tender, real, Narayanan-Mohan is a poet of place and community,
a cartographer of the work and intimacy of rooting.”
-Gustav Parker Hibbett

Poetry

  • ‘Imbolg’, ‘Lupin Seeds’, ‘When we meet (I’ll take you to Armagh’, ‘Annaghmakerrig’, ‘Downwind of Sally’s Bridge’, ‘Eithne Takes the Form of a Raven’, ‘Midnight at Busáras’, New Hibernia Review, Volume 29, Number 2, Summer/Samhradh 2025
  • ‘Cycling Home’ Flare 23: Readings from the Sunflower Sessions, Summer 2024
  • ‘Balscadden Beach’, Flare 22: Readings from the Sunflower Sessions, Spring 2024
  • Mapping the Depths of Us, a pamphlet of physics poems created as part of the Institute of Physics Writing Residency, 2023. Read it here.
  • ‘Nightboarder’, I Am the Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere, edited by Lucinda Jacobs and Sarah Webb, illustrated by Ashwin Chacko, published by Little Island, 2023.‘
  • The Knee’, published in The Stinging Fly, Issue 47 Vol.2, 2022. Buy it here.
  • 'Donegal’, published in Romance Options: Love Poems for Today, edited by Leeanne Quinn and Joseph Woods, published by Dedalus Press, 2022. Buy it here.
  • 'Red Berries', published in Bealtaine Magazine Issue 2, 2022. Read here.
  • 'Oscar Square Birthday Party', published in This Is What You Mean To Me: Poetry Ireland Introductions 2021, published by Poetry Ireland, 2021. Buy the e-book here.
  • 'Superglue', 'Ararat', 'Two Countries', 'Stargazing with my Mother', 'Sea', 'Moving on', and 'Cycling without a Face Mask', published in Queering the Green: Post-2000 Queer Irish Poetry, an anthology by Lifeboat Press, edited by Paul Maddern, 2021. Buy it here.
  • 'Oscar Square Birthday Party' and 'The Cat's of St Catherine's', published in Local Wonders: Poems of Our Immediate Surrounds, an anthology by Dedalus Press, 2021. Buy here.
  • 'Ararat’, published in Impossible Archetype Issue 9, 2021. Read here.
  • 'Introduction', 'Cured', 'Emily', and 'Engine of Love', published in Green Carnations, Glas na Gile: 25 Young LGBTQ+ Poets from Ireland, edited by John Ennis and Moxie Lofton, and published by Book Hub Publishing, 2020. Purchase the anthology.
  • Trumpet Issue 9, edited by me, a literary pamphlet published by Poetry Ireland, 2020. Buy the issue.
  • 'Superglue', published as part of Linenhall Art's Centre's A Fine Line... series, 2020. Read here.
  • 'Sea', published the Honest Ulsterman, 2020. Read here. 
  • 'The City is a Sunday', published on Pendemic.ie, 2020. Read here.
  • 'Brexit Blues', 'The 10.35 from Belfast Central to Dublin Connolly', 'Plane/Train', 'The Train to Dún Laoghaire', and ''You City You Boyfriend', included in Writing Home: the 'New Irish' Poets, edited by Pat Boran and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, published by Dedalus Press, 2019. Purchase the anthology.
  • 'Yours', published on Journal.ie, 2015. Read here.

​Commissioned Work

Dedalus Press, Writing Home book launch, 2019. L to R: Shaiyon Merkel, Nidhi Zak / Aria Eipe, Lianne O'Hara, Nastaha Remoundou, Bogusia Wardein, Julianna Menezes, Christian Wethered, Nithy Kasa, Sven Kretzschmar, Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, Pat Boran, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan and Polina Cosgrave.

Fiction

  • ​'Too Soon', flash fiction published in the Bangor Literary Journal #12 and shortlisted in the 40 Words competition, 2020. Read the issue here.
  • 'Fresh sheets', flash fiction published Banshee #10, 2020. Buy the issue.
  • 'First Date', flash fiction published in Visual Verse, 2020. Read here.

Non-Fiction

  • 'To Wander, to Stop', CTRL: Essays on Video Games, edited by Dean Fee, published by Lilliput Press, 2026. Buy here. 
  • 'A Citizen's Story', My City Too, Arinola Theatre, 2025. Read here. 
  • 'Rizz 'em with the 'Tism', Wired Our Own Way: An anthology of autistic Irish voices, ed. Niamh Garvey, New Island, 2025
  • 'The Ghost in the Machine’, The Irish Writers Handbook 2024, Books Ireland, 2003.​
  • '5 Days in August', published in This Is What You Mean To Me: Poetry Ireland Introductions 2021, published by Poetry Ireland, 2021. Buy the e-book here.
  • 'Being Seen', an interview with illustrator Dapo Adeola, Inis issue 63, published by Childrens Books Ireland, 2021. Read here. 
  • 'Kala Pani' an essay about a compound of words by Fióna Bolger, included in Hold Open the Door: A Commemorative Anthology from The Ireland Chair of Poetry, edited by Míchaél McCann, Summer Meline, Marcella L.A. Prince, Nidhi Nak/Aria Eipe, and Frank Ormsby, published by UCD Press, 2020. Purchase the anthology.
  • Various reviews in Childrens Books Ireland's Inis Magazine, 2020 onwards. ​
  • 'Alone, in the Dark, with You', an essay published on Pendemic.ie, 2020. Read here.
  • 'Dublin Postcard', an essay published in Poetry Ireland Review 131, 2020. Buy the issue.
  • 'The Arts as an Anchor', an article written for Dedalus Press, 2020. Read here.
  • 'A Story to Tell: One Creative Journey', an essay published on the Creative Generation blog, 2019. Read here.
  • Various articles written for LeCool Dublin, 2012. 
  • 'Toys Are Us', an article published in Gender Across Borders 2012. ​
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Reading

I wouldn't be a writer if I wasn't a reader! Here is my Storygraph profile if you'd like to check out what I've been reading. If you'd like to hire me to interview authors on panels, talk about books and writing, or to perform my work, click here.