Braids of Life: A Poetry Collection

A debut collection about becoming yourself in the space between two homes, two languages, and two versions of who you were told to be.

Braids of Life traces one woman's journey through five interwoven threads: the roots that shaped her, the tender threads of love and family, the knots of heartbreak and self-doubt, the weaves of hard-won self-love, and the quiet endings that make room for who she becomes next.

Anushree Gupta writes about growing up between a mother's early sacrifices and a daughter's late-blooming freedom, about a grandmother's fading memory and a grandfather's silent love, about crossing continents with four suitcases and leaving pieces of home behind. She writes about loving fiercely and losing quietly, about mistaking manipulation for magic, and about the slow, deliberate work of choosing yourself — in a kitchen at midnight, in a mirror after a long day, in the moments no one applauds.

Raw, lyrical, and unafraid of contradiction, Braids of Life is a debut collection for readers of contemporary women's poetry, coming-of-age poetry, and healing poetry alike.