Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant

‘[T]his is no fiction. I have scars on my body and my soul to prove this.’ Never a shrinking violet Hoshang Merchant came out of the closet early in his youth. A bard a teacher and a lover who has lived many lives he is the quintessential gay who once cross-dressed and yet defies categorization. In Secret Writings he recounts his extraordinary life and splendid experiences ranging across countries and cultures. His is a story of the prejudice and neglect that are part of everyday gay life and how he channelled his despair into creating poetry. He quotes Rumi Ghalib and Mir and writes with searing honesty about his long and short love affairs his ‘improbable’ sex life as both an initiator and a yielding partner and his inner turmoil. Sex becomes love and love becomes poetry in his writing. Merchant yells at the moral guardians of law and culture asks uncomfortable questions and shocks his readers. This rare book opens a window to the myriad worlds of an avant-garde.