Publisher Description
A vital collection of essays on the power of literature and the craft of writing from an international array of writers of color, sharing the experiences, cultural traditions, and convictions that have shaped them and their work “Electric essays that speak to the experience of writing from the periphery . . . a guide, a comfort, and a call all at once.”—Laila Lalami, author of Conditional Citizens Filled with empathy and wisdom, instruction and inspiration, this book encourages us to reevaluate the codes and conventions that have shaped our assumptions about how fiction should be written, and also challenges us to apply its lessons to both what we read and how we read. Featuring: • Taymour Soomro on resisting rigid stories about who you are • Madeleine Thien on how writing builds the room in which it can exist • Amitava Kumar on why authenticity isn’t a license we carry in our wallets • Tahmima Anam on giving herself permission to be funny • Ingrid Rojas Contreras on the bodily challenge of writing about trauma • Zeyn Joukhadar on queering English and the power of refusing to translate ourselves • Myriam Gurba on the empowering circle of Latina writers she works within • Kiese Laymon on hearing that no one wants to read the story that you want to write • Mohammed Hanif on the censorship he experienced at the hands of political authorities • Deepa Anappara on writing even through conditions that impede the creation of art • Plus essays from Tiphanie Yanique, Xiaolu Guo, Jamil Jan Kochai, Vida Cruz-Borja, Femi Kayode, Nadifa Mohamed in conversation with Leila Aboulela, and Sharlene Teo The start of a more inclusive conversation about storytelling, Letters to a Writer of Color will be a touchstone for aspiring and working writers and for curious readers everywhere.
Download and start listening now!
About the Authors
Tiphanie Yanique is a Caribbean fiction writer, poet and essayist, born in the US Virgin Islands. She is the author of the novel, Land of Love and Drowning, which garnered widespread critical acclaim. She is also the author of a collection of stories, How to Escape from a Leper Colony, which won her a listing as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35. She is a professor in the MFA program at the New School in New York City, where she is the 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. She lives in New Rochelle, New York with her family.
Angela Lin, an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator, graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA degree in drama. A critically acclaimed actress, her credits include The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU, and As the World Turns, among others.
Xiaolu Guo was born in south China. She studied film at the Beijing Film Academy and published six books in China before she moved to London in 2002. The English translation of Village of Stone was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She lives in London and Berlin.
About Deepa Anappara
Deepa Anappara is the author of the acclaimed debut novel Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line. She is the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, the Bridport Prize, and the second annual Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She has an MA degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia, Norwich. She was born in southern India and worked as a journalist in India for eleven years, reporting on human rights and education.