MEET  THE  TEAM


Founder & Editor-in-Chief:

Shloka Shankar is a disabled poet, editor, and visual artist from Bangalore, India. She enjoys experimenting with Japanese short-forms and cut-up poetry. A Best of the Net nominee and widely published haiku poet, her poems and artwork have appeared in over 200 online and print venues of repute. In addition, she has edited and co-edited nearly a dozen international poetry anthologies since 2016, including naad anunaad: an anthology of contemporary world haiku (Vishwakarma Publications, 2016), The 2020 Poetry Marathon Anthology (Authors Publish, 2020), and where the roots are: Best of Paper Lanterns, Vol. 2 (Yavanika Press, 2021), which received an Honourable Mention in the Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards for 2021. Shloka is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Yavanika Press. When she isn't poring over manuscripts, you can find her making abstract art, digital collages, or conducting poetry workshops through her brand bric-à-brac. She is the author of the microchap Points of Arrival (Origami Poems Project, 2021), the full-length haiku collections The Field of Why (Yavanika Press, 2022) and within our somehows (Yavanika Press, 2025), as well as co-author of the collaborative haiga anthology, living in the pause (Yavanika Press, 2024).  


Website: www.shlokashankar.com
Facebook: Shloka Shankar: a rasika's musings
Instagram: www.instagram.com/shloks23 




Co-curator for World Collage Day & Annual Vispo Contest:

Robin Smith (they/them) is a disabled artist who spends their days writing and drawing themselves into the bodies of other animals and plants. Their work has earned numerous accolades including The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award for Individual Poem (2019). Robin is Co-founder and Co-editor of whiptail: journal of the single-line poem and an Associate Editor at Yavanika Press. They also serve as Coordinator for the Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems.

Social: @komadorihaiku