What the  critics are saying ... 

"I was privileged to meet Venu Sanon in Mussoorie in June 2011 when I came to speak at the Lal Bahadur Shastri academy for IAS officers. I was deeply moved by the medical care that she and her husband are providing to the poor in the surrounding villages and the town of Mussoorie. Venu presented me with her poems when we met her and I am honoured to write this short foreword for her collection of poems titled aptly, Realization.
 As a person who has written prose all his life, I marvel at those who can write poetry. A prose writer can only step aside with humility when a poet passes by. Nature clearly has a hold on Venu, as it should, for she lives amidst nature's generosity and abundance, and she reminds us wisely to learn from it 'the real way to live'. Dreams also intrigue her and she wonders at their significance. So does the passing of time, and she asks if time binds human beings or liberates them. The only religion that interests her is one of compassion and service to others. She prefers the speech of silence for it conveys far more than words. Above all, her poetry celebrates the richness of life. A love of humanity is the defining quality of her verse. It seems to me that the job of a writer is not to find new emotions but to express the old and ordinary ones in a fresh way that wakes up the reader. This is the test by which you might want to judge Venu Sanon's book." 

- Gurcharan Das,
Author- The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma,  India Unbound,  Elephant Paradigm

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"I have been through Realization and find it a tonic in an age of doubt and skepticism. It is a remarkable accomplishment for the sustained level of inspiration from - and gratitude for - the life force. You catch the wonder and awe not just of nature’s immediate workings but of the miraculous unfolding of the cosmos and the individual’s role in the drama. Quite apart from the questing nature
ox the author’s soul, I envy her command of the language."
- Bill Aitken
Author - Branch Line to Eternity, Divining the Deccan, Nanda Devi Affair, Seven Sacred Rivers, Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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" Her dedication says it all. And her poems are offerings as of pearls, each one subtle and introspective with a nacre of great resonance; that are strung together as a garland of fine and impeccable jewels."
- Martand Singh of Kapurthala State,  India

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" There is a clean sweetness pervading the poems…
 The book is really like a comprehensive, composite prayer."
- Shashi Mishra
Author - Beyond Ethics

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"I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr Venu Sanon for some years now thanks to the charitable trust catering to rural healthcare that I run in Uttarakhand. I was keenly aware of the sterling job she and her husband Sunil have been doing in the area where Venu works as a medical pathologist conducting medical tests from the trust’s mobile dispensary unit.

So you can imagine my delight when I discovered a poetic side to her. In a way, this should not have come as a surprise as the same sensitivity with which she has shown her humanitarian side is responsible for the sensibilities that the poems in this collection carry.

Venu has divided her poetry into sections under titles such as 'Nature', 'Emotions', 'The Mind and Dreams', 'Prayer' and 'Silence'. But such divisions actually allow the reader to see more clearly how all these worlds merge into each other, strengthening the idea of a 'whole' in Venu's mind.
Poetry is as much about seeing the world in a certain way as it is about describing the world. In Venu's poems, which mix description and emotions in one embrace, we find ourselves looking at ourselves guided by her moving lines and stanzas.

I wish her all the best and am sure that readers will share the pleasure of discovering the sensitive and selfless person that Venu is through her insightful and spirited poetry."

-Shobhana Bhartia
Chairperson, Hindustan Times Media Limited

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Venu Sanon's poems are light, precise and beautiful .She sees feels and breathes the world around her, the air, the clouds, the colors,the sounds, the feelings, and she renders them into finely chiselled verse that touches a deep core in the reader's heart and mind.These are poems you will want to read as you sit in your favourite chair in the verandah and watch the monsoon clouds darken the sky.

Urvashi Butalia of Zubaan Books

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'Realization' is available at :
Art Laureate
 F 213 A Lado Sarai Village
 New Delhi 110030
Contact: Ms. Isha Singh
[email protected]