In this episode, we speak to three writers who have written about citizenship, putting down roots, and being uprooted in different ways. In the first segment, the three authors exchange thoughts about what they understand by “belonging” and discuss how language plays a role in articulating this belonging. Then we move on to talk to the individual writers discussing the themes and intricacies of their works, their experience of immigration and politics of who belongs where. The episode ends with a treat to the listeners with few recommendations of books and cinema from the guests that capture the essence of immigrant identity and the experience of multiculturalism. 

Guests

We have with us celebrated novelist and screenwriter Nikesh Shukla. He is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, and co-editor of The Good Immigrant USA and writer of Brown Baby: A Memoir Of Race, Family And Home. Next guest for this episode is Jenny Bhatt who is a writer, literary translator, and book critic.  She is the founder of Desi Books and teaches creative writing at Writing Workshops Dallas.  Her literary translation, Ratno Dholi: Dhumketu’s Best Short Stories has been shortlisted for the 2021 PFC-Valley of Words Awards for English Translation from Regional Languages. 

The other guest for this episode is Prof. Jonathan Gil Harris who teaches at Ashoka University. He is author of the best-selling The First Firangis and Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.