Dom Moraes

Dominic Francis Moraes (19 July 1938 – 2 June

2004)[2] was an Indian writer and poet who published Dom Moraes
nearly 30 books in English. He is widely seen as a
foundational figure in Indian English literature. His
poems are a meaningful and substantial contribution to
Indian and World literature.[3][4]

Early life
Dom Moraes[5] was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) to
Beryl and Frank Moraes, former editor of The Times of
India and later The Indian Express. He had a tormented Born Dominic Francis Moraes
relationship with his mother Beryl, who had been 19 July 1938
confined to a mental asylum since his childhood.[6] His Bombay, Bombay Province,
aunt was the historian Teresa Albuquerque.[7] He British India
attended the city's St. Mary's School, and then left for Died 2 June 2004 (aged 65)
England to enroll at Jesus College, Oxford.[8] Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation Poet, novelist, columnist,
Moraes spent eight years in Britain (in London and
director
Oxford), New York City, Hong Kong, Delhi and
Language English
Bombay.[9]
Education Jesus College, Oxford
Notable A Beginning (1958)
Career works Poems (1960)
John Nobody (1965)
David Archer published Moraes' first collection of My Son's Father (1968)
poems, A Beginning, in 1957. When he was 19, still an Serendip (1990)
undergraduate, he became the first Indian to win the Notable Hawthornden Prize (1958)
Hawthornden Prize and was presented with £100 and a awards Sahitya Akademi Award for
silver medal by Lord David Cecil at the Arts Council English (1994)
of Britain on 10 July 1958.[10] Spouse Henrietta Moraes (m. 1961)
Judith Moraes
He edited magazines in London, Hong Kong and New Leela Naidu
​​(m. 1969; sep. 1992)​
York. He became the editor of The Asia Magazine in
1971. He scripted and partially directed over 20 Partner Sarayu Srivatsa (1991–
television documentaries for the BBC and ITV. He was 2004)[1]
a war correspondent in Algeria, Israel and Vietnam. In Children 1[1]
1976 he joined the United Nations.[11] Relatives Frank Moraes (father)
Teresa Albuquerque (aunt)
Moraes conducted one of the first interviews of the Dalai Lama after the Tibetan spiritual leader fled to
India in 1959. The Dalai Lama was then 23 and Moraes, 20.[12]

Later life and death

In 1961–62 he was one of the very few public Indian figures to strongly criticize the Indian Army
takeover of Goa, land of his forefathers – Daman and Diu from Portuguese India. He tore up his Indian
passport on TV in protest.[13] He was later allowed back in the country.[14]

When the Gujarat riots erupted in 2002, with their heavy toll of Muslim dead, Moraes left for Ahmedabad
the minute the news came through, saying that since he was a Catholic, Muslims would not see him as an
enemy. Even though he was physically in considerable pain by then, he was one of the first on the
scene.[15]

Moraes ended his writing career, writing books in collaboration

with Sarayu Srivatsa.[16][17]

He had a lifelong battle with alcoholism. Moraes suffered from

cancer, but refused treatment and died from a heart attack in
Bandra, Mumbai. He was buried in the city's Sewri Cemetery.[18]
Many of Dom's old friends and publishers attended the memorial
service in Odcombe. A headstone in yellow Jaisalmer stone lies
embedded in the front lawn of the Church of St Peter and St Paul
Memorial to Dom Moraes
to mark the service.

Personal life
In 1956, aged 18, he was courted by Audrey Wendy Abbott who later changed her name to Henrietta.
They married in 1961. He left her, according to his close friends in London, but did not divorce her. He
had a son, Francis Moraes, with his second wife Judith, whom he divorced, and returned to India in 1968.
In 1969, he married the Indian actress Leela Naidu. They were treated as a star couple, and known across
the world for over two decades. Their marriage ended in a separation.[19] For the last 13 years of his life
he lived with Sarayu Srivatsa, with whom he co-authored two books.[1]

Bibliography
1951: Green is the Grass, a book of cricket essays[20]
1957: A Beginning, his first book of poems (winner of the Hawthornden Prize in 1958)
1960: Poems, his second book of poems
1960: Gone Away: An Indian Journey, memoir
1965: John Nobody, his third book of poems
1967: Beldam & Others, a pamphlet of verse
1968: My Son's Father, autobiography
1983: Absences, book of poems
 1987: Collected Poems: 1957-1987 (Penguin)
1990: Serendip (winner of the 1994 Sahitya Akademi Award)
1992: Out of God's Oven: Travels in a Fractured Land, co-authored with Sarayu Srivatsa[21]
1994: Never at Home, memoir (Penguin)[22]
2003: The Long Strider, co-authored with Sarayu Srivatsa
Heiress to Destiny, biography of Indira Gandhi
2012: Selected Poems edited by Ranjit Hoskote (Penguin)[23]

Selections in poetry anthologies

Penguin Modern Poets 2 (1965), some thirty poems in a shared volume with Kingsley Amis
and Peter Porter[24]
The Young British Poets (ed. Jeremy Robson, Chatto & Windus, 1971), a selection of five
poems[25]
The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna
Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi[26][27]

Interviews
"I regret that I didn't write any worthwhile poetry for so long: Dom Moraes" (https://www.india
today.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19900515-i-regret-that-i-didnt-write-any-wort
hwhile-poetry-for-so-long-dom-moraes-812567-1990-05-15) Interview with Tarun Tejpal for
India Today, 15 May 1990
Voices of the Crossing - The impact of Britain on writers from Asia, the Caribbean and
Africa. Ferdinand Dennis, Naseem Khan (eds), London: Serpent's Tail, 1998. Dom Moraes:
p. 83 "Changes of Scenery."

See also

Biography portal

India portal

Poetry portal

Indian poetry in English

Indian English Literature

References
1. Brownjohn, Alan (4 June 2004). "Obituary: Dom Moraes" (https://www.theguardian.com/new
s/2004/jun/04/guardianobituaries.india). The Guardian. London.
2. "Encyclopaedia Britannica , Dom Moraes" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dom-Mora
es). britannica.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
3. "Everyone knows of Dom Moraes, but many more readers should know his poetry" (https://s
croll.in/article/844271/everyone-knows-of-dom-moraes-but-many-more-readers-should-kno
w-his-poetry). scroll.in. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
 4. "Dom Moraes" (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dom-moraes-89rltctn3md).
thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
5. "Dom Moraes" (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dom-moraes-730527.html).
independent.co.uk. 4 June 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
6. "The Poet Who Remained a Boy - Dom Moraes Early Life" (https://www.thehindu.com/featur
es/magazine/the-poet-who-remained-a-boy/article4912158.ece). The Hindu. 13 July 2013.
7. Noronha, Frederick (12 June 2017). "Teresa Albuquerque, Historian of Colonial Bombay and
the Goan Diaspora, is No More" (https://thewire.in/146812/teresa-albuquerque-historian-col
onial-bombay-goan-diaspora-no/). The Wire. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
8. "Dom Moraes" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190502225530/http://modernpoetryintranslati
on.com/poet/dom-moraes/). modernpoetryintranslation.com. Archived from the original (htt
p://modernpoetryintranslation.com/poet/dom-moraes/) on 2 May 2019. Retrieved
3 September 2018.
9. Doherty, Francis (1963). "Poetic Parable: A Note on the Poetry of Dom Moraes". Studies: An
Irish Quarterly Review. 52 (206). jstor.org: 205–211. JSTOR 30088567 (https://www.jstor.or
g/stable/30088567).
10. "Hawthornden prize" (https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/dated-July-1
2-1958-Hawthornden-prize/article15259265.ece). The Hindu. 12 July 1958. Retrieved 7 July
2018.
11. "Dom Moraes" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1463547/Dom-Moraes.html).
telegraph.co.uk. 4 June 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
12. "A Requiem To Domsky" (https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/a-requiem-to-domsk
y/224589). outlookindia.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
13. "SAHGAL'S PROTEST STEMS FROM HATRED FOR MODI" (https://www.dailypioneer.co
m/columnists/usual-suspects/sahgals-protest-stems-from-hatred-for-modi.html).
dailypioneer.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
14. Chattopadhyay, Sayan (January 2014). "Return as a Stranger Dom Moraes and the
Ambiguity of Homecoming". Return of Stranger Dom Moraes (https://brill.com/view/book/edc
oll/9789401211086/B9789401211086-s021.xml). brill.com. pp. 313–320.
doi:10.1163/9789401211086_021 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789401211086_021).
ISBN 978-94-012-1108-6. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
15. Brownjohn, Alan (4 June 2004). "Brilliant young writer, whose star, lauded by bohemian
London, dimmed in later life" (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jun/04/guardianobitu
aries.india). The Guardian. theguardian.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
16. "The stranger who found belonging at last" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184259/ht
tp://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2004/06/13/stories/2004061300080100.htm). The
Hindu. Archived from the original (https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2004/06/13/storie
s/2004061300080100.htm) on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
17. Bhattacharjee, Sankarlal (2004). "Death and Departure: Meeting Dom Moraes". Indian
Literature. 48 (4 (222)). jstor.org: 7–15. JSTOR 23341511 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2334
1511).
18. Singh, Khushwant (13 October 2007). "Requiem to Dom Moraes" (http://www.tribuneindia.c
om/2007/20071013/saturday/above.htm). The Tribune.
19. "Leela Naidu personified grace and beauty" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/
Leela-Naidu-personified-grace-and-beauty/articleshow/4831749.cms). The Times of India.
29 July 2009.
20. James D. Coldham, "Book Reviews", The Cricketer, 31 May 1952, p. 181.
21. "Sarayu Srivatsa on Dom Moraes and their Travelogue Out of God's Oven" (http://indiancult
uralforum.in/2017/09/18/sarayu-srivatsa-dom-moraes-out-of-gods-oven/).
indianculturalforum.in. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
22. "Never at Home: A breathless account of Dom Moraes' globe-trotting days" (https://www.indi
atoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19921231-book-review-never-at-home-by-d
om-moraes-767351-2013-05-22). indiatoday.in. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
23. "Dom Moraes ( Selected Poems )" (https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/dom-moraes
-selected-poems-NAG349/). exoticindiaart.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
24. Country House Library (https://countryhouselibrary.co.uk/products/penguin-modern-poets-2)
25. Ash Rare Books (https://www.ashrare.com/poetry_anthologies.html)
26. "The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets" (https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/user
s/amit/books/mehrotra-1993-oxford-india-anthology.html). cse.iitk.ac.in. Retrieved 23 August
2018.
27. "Book review: 'Twelve Modern Indian Poets' by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra" (https://www.indiat
oday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19920815-book-review-twelve-modern-indian-poets-by-a
rvind-krishna-mehrotra-766731-2013-01-03). indiatoday.in. 3 January 2013. Retrieved
23 August 2018.

External links
“Indian Literature in English” by Dom Moraes (http://www.jayabhattacharjirose.com/indian-lit
erature-in-english-by-dom-moraes/)
Ranjit Hoskote: Obituary for Dom Moraes (https://web.archive.org/web/20040911150856/htt
p://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/06/13/stories/2004061300080100.htm), The Hindu, 13 June
2004.
Archival Material at Leeds University Library (https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-e
xplore/8555)

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