Debjani Chatterjee

Debjani’s eclectic interest in spiritual practices led her to experience various styles of meditation, including TM, Raja Yoga and Shivyog. She mainly practices Shakti Sadhana, employing yantras, mantras and mudras. Having completed the ‘Mindfulness Based Life Enhancement’ Programme taught by John Darwin at Sheffield Hallam University in 2014, she is keen to promote mindfulness for healing, resilience and self-development; particularly in combination with creative therapeutic practices, e.g. writing, storytelling and visual art. She is an enthusiastic yoga student at the Sheffield Hindu Samaj and a founder-member of Sheffield Interfaith.

Debjani grew up in India, Japan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Egypt. Her PhD from Lancaster University was in Religious Studies, and she has a PGCE and MA degrees in Literature and in Art Psychotherapy. Debjani worked in the steel industry, community relations and teaching for over two decades. An acclaimed poet with an international profile, children’s writer, editor, literary translator, Olympic torchbearer and storyteller, she works with adults and children of all ages. Her many awards include an MBE, an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University and Word Masala’s Lifetime Achievement in Poetry. A former Chair of the National Association of Writers in Education, she was Poetry Society Poet-in-Residence at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and is an Associate Royal Literary Fellow, Patron of Survivors’ Poetry and runs The Healing Word for cancer survivors and carers. Her 65+ books include: The Elephant-Headed God & Other Hindu Tales, A Slice of Sheffield, Namaskar: New & Selected Poems, Who Cares? and Let’s Celebrate! Festival Poems from Around the World. For information about her books see www.debjanichatterjee.moonfruit.com