Just as with Hollywood, the fiction landscape is changing rapidly! Just this year, we had a series of books by South Asian authors hit the literary landscape and make waves throughout the world. In this episode, Shabnum sits down with Alka Joshi, author of "The Henna Artist," and Saumya Dave, author of "Well Behaved Indian Women." Both of these pieces of work came out in 2020, are works of fiction that feature almost all South Asian characters and families, and explore the role of the South Asian woman and all that is expected of her. This is true in Joshi's "The Henna Artist," a historical fiction book set in 1950s India, and Dave's "Well Behaved Indian Women," set in modern day America. It's striking how much similarity there is in what the characters face despite the different settings of each book. Alka and Saumya both discuss the inspirations for their work as well as what is causing the widening of the publishing market that we are seeing today, allowing for more South Asian authors to tell stories from their perspective, and to talk about history from a perspective that is not just European.
Host: Shabnum Gulati
Guests: Alka Joshi, Saumya Dave
Illustration: Hanifa Abdul Hameed
Music: AnAkkiN on SoundCloud
