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Aranya Johar

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Aranya Johar
Born (1998-09-07) September 7, 1998 (age 26)
OccupationPoet
NationalityIndian

Aranya Johar (born September 7, 1998) is an Indian poet. She uses social media to address issues like gender equality, mental health and body positivity.[1] She uses slam poetry to confront beauty standards.[2] Aranya's first released piece, “A Brown Girls’s Guide to Gender” became a viral sensation and hit 1 million views within two days of its upload.[3] She integrated spoken word in Bollywood for the first time through her collaboration with Akshay Kumar for the movie ‘Padman’.[4] Aranya was a speaker at TEDxICTMumbai in April 2017.[5] She has been invited and praised by various poets and foundations.[6]

Early life and education

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Aranya was born on 7 September 1998 and is raised in Mumbai. She did her schooling from Lilavati Podar High School.[7] She uses slam poetry to express her ideas. Slam poets use spoken words to perform, express identity and connect with their audience.[8]

Career

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Aranya started writing down poems on misogyny issues from her teenage.[9] Aranya performed for the first time in front of an audience when she was 12 years old. “A group used to conduct open- mic sessions at a local resto-bar, and the performer would get a cocktail shot after their performance.” She admitted that she lied about her age to get in and her mother would accompany her. She was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) when she was in Class VII.[10] So she uses the medium to create awareness about mental health. She researches on mental condition and writes about it.[11] During one of her performances, when she was a teen, she remembers moving a 47-year-old man to tears. The lines that made the man cry were, “As you stare at that vein kissing that knife/ think of all the things you’ll miss if you end this life/ If I were you I’d wait for the scars to fade/ if I were you I’d put down that blade.”[12]

Aranya along with her 17-year-old friend Prachee Mashru are the force behind More Than Mics, an organization set to curate creative platforms for performance arts ( poetry, music, comedy etc.).[13] Mashru attends a school in Vile Parle (W) but they got to know each other online and bonded over their love for Canadian rapper Drake.[14]

Aranya is also the curator of Blind Poetry Sessions, a series of poetry nights. Unlike other gigs, the Blind Poetry night takes place in a dark room, and the poets are anonymous.[15] She is also the co-curator of another poetry event in the city, titled Throwback Thursday, wherein she asks poets to read out their first work as well as their most recent writing.[16] She also supported and presented a poem for Gender equality, Know your rights by Vivel in association with Aaj tak and India Today.[17] Aranya's video, 'To Bleed Without Violence' was a collaborative piece with WASH United which hit 7 million views over the weekend of the upload.[18] She has also recited her poem for young enthusiasts of Harvard Model United Nations in 2017 at Hyderabad International Convocation Centre.[19]

Aranya Johar has been featured on Rolling Stone and Harper Bazaar in 2017.[20] She also performed at the SRCC Youth Conference on 22 September 2017. She has also been featured in the May edition of Teen Vogue.[21] She has performed at the event of We The Women in association with UN Women on 9th and 10 December 2017.[22]

She became a part of Goalkeepers New York city 2018. She spoke at Goalkeepers in New York alongside names like Ed Sheeran, Melinda Gates, Bill Gates, Stephen Fry and many more[23] organized by the Gates Foundation and #ProjectEveryone.[24] She has also been a part of SHEROES Summit 2018.[25]

Works

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  • “A Brown Girl’s Guide to Gender” (First performed on 6 March 2017 at Tuning Fork)[26]
  • “A Brown Girl’s Guide to Beauty” (published on 7 July 2017 and was presented by Shaadi.com)[27]
  • “A Brown Girl’s Guide” – A Better Tomorrow (published by Rise by TLC on 1 January 2018)[28]
  • “To Bleed Without Violence” (published by Dasra India on 28 June 2017)[29]
  • “BleedingRani” – with Akshay Kumar (Published on 1 February 2018 by Peeping Moon)[30]
  • “To India: With Love” (Published on 29 September 2017)
  • “Women Will” (Published on 29 March 2018)
  • “Buy Now or Panic Later” (Published on 9 April 2017 by Airline poetry movement).[31]

Recognition

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She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019.[32]

References

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  1. ^ "Aranya Johar on Instagram: "Feature in this month's @bazaarindia ! So grateful! 🙆💕"". Instagram. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  2. ^ "This Indian Teenager Is Using Slam Poetry To Confront Beauty Standards". Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  3. ^ "'Brown Girl's Guide to Gender' Strikes a Note with Every Woman". The Quint. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Akshay kumar with Aranya Johar Tears Apart Our Society's Notion About Periods In This Slam Poem !". The Indian Feed. 3 February 2018. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  5. ^ "TEDxICTMumbai | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Refinery 29 Introduces Aranya Johar by Harriet Staff". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ "::: Lilavatibai Podar School - Newsletter". www.lilavatibaipodarschool.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  8. ^ "slam poetry | Definition, History, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  9. ^ "This Indian Teenager Is Using Slam Poetry To Confront Beauty Standards". Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  10. ^ "::: Lilavatibai Podar School - Newsletter". www.lilavatibaipodarschool.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  11. ^ "The Rhymer who stole our hearts with her fantastic poetry- Aranya Johar". Million Reasons to Inspire. 5 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2018.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "From better to verse". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  13. ^ "Aranya Johar". Espérance. 28 April 2017. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  14. ^ "From better to verse". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Aranya Johar". Espérance. 28 April 2017. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Meet the Mumbai-based poet whose piece on gender discrimination has gone viral". hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  17. ^ Vivel (28 August 2017), Aranya Johar supports Gender Equality. Know Your Rights #AbSamjhautaNahin, retrieved 1 November 2018
  18. ^ "Aranya Johar - India Web Fest". India Web Fest. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  19. ^ Worldview Education (26 October 2017), The MUN Anthem | Aranya Johar | HMUN India 2017 | Poetry, retrieved 1 November 2018
  20. ^ "Aranya Johar - India Web Fest". India Web Fest. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  21. ^ Wu, Sarah. "This Teen Just SMASHED Beauty Stereotypes With Poetry". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  22. ^ "We The Women". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  23. ^ "Goalkeepers 2018". www.gatesfoundation.org. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  24. ^ GatesFoundation (12 September 2018), We the Goalkeepers, retrieved 1 November 2018
  25. ^ "Get Ready For SHEROES Summit 2018, Here's What We Did In 2017". sheroes.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  26. ^ "A Brown Girls Guide To Gender Aranya Johar Womens Day Special". teluguking.download. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  27. ^ "Shaadi.com". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  28. ^ Rise by TLC (1 January 2018), Heroes by Aranya Johar | "A Brown Girl's Guide" - A Better Tomorrow | Spoken Word Poetry, retrieved 1 November 2018
  29. ^ Dasra India (28 June 2017), To Bleed Without Violence: Aranya Johar, retrieved 1 November 2018
  30. ^ "Akshay kumar with Aranya Johar Tears Apart Our Society's Notion About Periods In This Slam Poem !". The Indian Feed. 3 February 2018. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  31. ^ "The Best Of Aranya Johar - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  32. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
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