Priyankoo Kashyap Das – Winner of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award
“Prism: Range of Wavelengths” – An Ode to Emotion, Identity, and Transformation
Some books meet you where you are. Others carry you to where you’ve always longed to go. Prism: Range of Wavelengths by Priyankoo Kashyap Das does both. A tender, bold, and deeply honest collection, this book explores the vibrant hues of emotion that color everyday life—from the warmth of friendship and the comfort of family to the complexities of love, identity, and personal growth.
Written during a year of immense personal transformation, Prism captures the aftermath of a turning point. “2024 was a roller coaster,” Priyankoo shares. “It was the year I left behind the version of me that was surviving and stepped into the self I always imagined I could be.” That inner shift—from restraint to release, from being to becoming—is the soul of this collection.
Each poem acts like a prism itself, refracting moments of joy, grief, frustration, and clarity through language that is sharp yet lyrical, playful yet profound. What emerges is a book that feels like a conversation with an old friend who sees you—really sees you—across all your wavelengths.
But Priyankoo’s journey is anything but ordinary. Raised amid the wild beauty of Assam and the Indo-Bhutan border, her worldview is shaped by landscapes, silences, and stories few get to witness. A respected educationist, TEDx speaker, and a mother to both biological and chosen children, she blends the wisdom of lived experience with a fierce, ever-curious spirit. “I avoid adults,” she quips. “But give me children and dogs, and I’m home.”
Prism: Range of Wavelengths is more than just poetry. It’s a testimony. A reminder that our emotions are valid, our stories are valuable, and our transformations are worth writing about. In every line, Priyankoo extends an invitation: to remember who you were, celebrate who you are, and keep dreaming about who you might still become.
As a winner of the Emily Dickinson Award, her work has resonated with readers across the globe. And it’s easy to see why. She doesn’t write from a pedestal. She writes from the trenches, from the classroom, from the quiet corners of motherhood and memory.
She is, as she puts it, “a work in progress.” And in that raw, unapologetic becoming, she gives the rest of us permission to be the same.
📖 Book Title: Prism: Range of Wavelengths
🏆 Award: 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award
📍 From: Bhubaneswar, India
📷 Instagram: @koostories
