We'd like to think of Catamaran as encouraging and sustaining writers who have recently found their creative voice and vision and need a forum to hone their craft. Catamaran will be published twice a year-once in the Fall and once in the Spring. Our next issue comes out in September 2006..

The word "catamaran," although colloquially associated with a high-speed boat, has its origins in South Asia. It is an anglicized form of the Tamil phrase "kattu maram" (which translates literally as "tied wood/log") for a raft. For us, therefore, "catamaran" has multiple evocations-South Asia, the shared colonial history of South Asian nations, the contribution to English of South Asian languages, the sense of adventure in setting out on a raft, the energy of movement, the turbulence of the oceans.

This first issue of Catamaran is dedicated to Agha Shahid Ali, the deeply loved and respected poet from Kashmir who lived in the United States from 1975 until his death from a brain tumor in December 2001. Shahid wrote eight books of poetry, the most recent of which was nominated for the 2001 National Book Award; translated the poems of Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz; wrote a critical work on T. S. Eliot; and edited an anthology of ghazals. We commemorate Shahid's dedication to the craft of poetry and his ebullient spirit and hope that other writers will find inspiration in his life and work.

Our excitement at launching Catamaran is not without sadness as well. We are deeply shocked at the sudden and untimely death of one of our editors, Reetika Vazirani, and her son. Reetika was an accomplished poet; we will miss her astute reading of poetry and her keen ear for the word and phrase that surprises and illuminates.

We thank all those who submitted to the first issue. We look forward eagerly to submissions for forthcoming issues.

~ Rajini Srikanth