The Yak Dilemma
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Dhaliwal writes with a rich fluency of tongues, evoking pathos and pleasure in equal measure.”
Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipeauthor of Auguries of a Minor God
About the book
In The Yak Dilemma, Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal ventures out of the mountain ranges of Palampur and across vast distances of land and sea. From scenes playing out through Dublin windows to ruminating on wearing a Sadri in the West, these innovative mediations are as much about personal identity as they are a testament to the human spirit’s drive to cross territory and forge a ‘map’ of our own. Kaur Dhaliwal’s map, if she has one, is without architecture or foundations; ‘Four walls don’t make a home or a house—it takes some doing’, she writes in Ghazal on Living in a Hotel in Downtown Cairo. She is part of a dynamic new generation of poets pushing the medium into exciting new areas by questioning the notion of ‘place’ and its effect on our bodies—including the human spirit and memory. Uprooted and unsettled, her lyrical voice generously outlines ‘home’ as something other than a physical place. The Yak Dilemma is a remarkable poetic journey, its words create new territories by carefully revealing the fragile spaces that fall in between.
The Yak Dilemma has been selected by the National Poetry Library for its collection
These are songs of belonging and of movement, of fluid identity, carefully crafted and always graceful.”
Seán Hewittauthor of Tongues of Fire

Further Praise
Dhaliwal is an important and vibrantly exciting new voice in poetry. ”
Rebecca Tamás author of WITCH and Strangers
Dhaliwal’s writing is evocative, thrilling, and magnificent. ”
Zeba Talkhani author of My Past is a Foreign Country
A heartfelt, entertaining debut. ”
André Naffis-Sahely author of The Promised Land: Poems from Itinerant Life
Kaur Dhaliwal travels through time and space and the self; I wanted to go wherever she was heading. ”
Jen Calleja author of Goblins
The Yak Dilemma is beautiful, transportative and so deeply felt. ”
Lucia Osborne-Crowley author of I Choose Elena
The Yak Dilemma asks: why risk myopia, when we can move forward—and unfold? ”
Sana Goyal Poetry London
a collection which inspires a complex mix of pathos, longing, curiosity and joy. ”
Robert Greer Idler
an illuminating exercise about the self and our surroundings ”
Nidhi Verma Platform
The Yak Dilemma by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal takes a sharp look at what it means to belong somewhere. Dhaliwal’s subjects are family, displacement, language and the ironies of modern life. Her work is quick, interrogative and moves deceptively easily from city to city and subject to subject, but never do we lose sight of the questions Dhaliwal asks, “Where have I truly come to?” ”
Poetry Book Society Spring 2021 Bulletin

About the author
Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal was born in the Himalayan town of Palampur, India. She studied at St. Bede’s College, Shimla; Trinity College, Dublin; and Queen’s University, Belfast. Her poems have been translated into Arabic, German and Italian, and have recently appeared in Ambit, Banshee, Gutter, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Jukebox, Poetry London, The Bombay Literary Magazine, The Irish Times, The Lonely Crowd, The Pickled Body, The Tangerine and elsewhere. In 2018, she was one of the twelve poets selected for Poetry Ireland’s ‘Introductions’ series. She is the 2021 Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow at the University of Kent. The Yak Dilemma is her first full-length collection.
Events
- The Idler Festival, Independent Press Showcase (w/ Peninsula Press, Prototype) July 2022
- The National Poetry Library, August 2022
- Irish Writers Centre, Culture Night, September 2022
Press
- Where have I truly come to? : Sana Goyal retraces the steps of an itinerant poet
Poetry London - In Conversation
Platform Magazine - The Architecture of Belonging and Longing
Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal - How The Yak Dilemma speaks to those straddling different worlds
Latifa Akay for Writers Mosaic - Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal
Rattlecast, ep. 95 - Review Bookshop Literary Lunch
Review Bookshop IGTV - FOUR Poems from The Yak Dilemma
Hotel - Poem of the week: ‘Reading Natalia Ginzburg in East Cork’
The Irish Times - Unlaunched Books Podcast featuring Evgeny Shtorn, Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal, and Oein DeBhairduin in conversation with Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe (August 2020)
Unlaunched Books Podcast, Episode 9 - Poem Of The Day: ‘The women who dine alone, dine alone’
RTÉ - The Wisdom of Questions – The Yak Dilemma
Wood Bee Poet - BBC Open Book, The Yak Dilemma, recommended by Review Bookshop
Radio 4 - Poetry Book of the Week
Books Upstairs - The Yak Dilemma by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal—the familiar and the strange
Books Ireland - Poetry Book Society
Spring 2021 Bulletin - Idler
Summer 2021
Specification
- Format
- Paperback
- Trim Size
- 186 x 150 mm
- Pagination
- 92 pp
- Illustrations Colour
- 7 colour
- Illustrations B&W
- 6 black & white
- Publication Date
- 15 April 2021
- ISBN
- 9781527271654
- Designer
- Patrick Fisher for Frontwards Design
- Production Spec
- Munken Lynx, full-colour offset litho, section sewn perfect binding with flapped covers
- Distributor
- Inpress Books / Ingram Publisher Services
- Trade Categories
- Poetry
- Subjects
- Poetry, Travel, Memory