Los Altos resident Anoushka Dugar was recently named a national winner in the 2023 Scholastic Awards in the Arts and Writing category.
The Blach Intermediate School eighth-grader received a Silver Key at nationals and Gold Key at regionals for her poem “Brown Child,” along with a Silver Key at regionals for another poem, “Elegy to You.”
Anoushka began writing poetry after she took the creative writing elective at Blach in seventh grade. She said her teacher fostered her love of poetry, encouraging her to dabble in writing her own pieces in eighth grade.
Inspiration for her poetry, Anoushka added, stemmed from her own interests, thoughts and feelings.
“A lot of it resonates with my experiences as being a person of color,” she said. “I think my favorite thing about writing poetry is sharing my voice with an in-depth feel of things around us in this world. I draw inspiration from my family, from nature, even just concepts.”
Her Silver Key-winning work at regionals, “‘Elegy to You,” “is about reincarnation,” Anoushka noted.
With “Brown Child,” Anoushka said she wanted to convey how many people and children of color feel growing up and only seeing one beauty standard in society. She added that she experienced that herself growing up.
“In movies, there wasn’t a lot of representation … and I think that hit me as a little girl because I wanted to be this other image of who I wasn’t,” Anoushka said. “What I wanted to do with the poem is speak to other people who maybe have felt that same way, because I think at the end of the day, one thing that we all have to focus on is accepting our differences in terms of beauty.”
Anoushka said she hopes her writing will help people learn the importance of accepting themselves just as they are.
“I think each person is so unique in their own sense and we need to zone in on that,” she said. “Submitting my poetry to a competition … it really puts you in a vulnerable place, to share your thoughts with others. That’s my main message: to not be afraid to put yourself out there and share who you are as a person with the world. I think one of the most important things is being truly yourself and accepting that.”
In the future, Anoushka intends to explore different genres of writing and draw inspiration from writers she looks up to, including Amanda Gorman and Maya Angelou.
“What I love (about) writing is that it’s such a flexible space in which you can be a completely different person in how you convey your thoughts,” Anoushka said. “I hope to continue writing and never stop, because it’s part of who I am as a person and I’d love to showcase it to the world.”
