Welcome to my website!
I write fiction and poetry and essays and (sometimes!) academic papers.
I travel. Then I write about the travel. Nothing like the lulling motion of an old train track, or a path that calls with smells of warm food, both familiar and new. I love what I discover when I lose myself in a city where I speak none of the languages, and my certainties fall through a fog of sound.
A collection of my travel essays will be published by Penguin Random House (SEA) in 2023. Right now, I am working on a third novel, as well as a hybrid memoir. When I’m not writing, or travelling, I teach at StoryStudio Chicago and the Graham School of University of Chicago).
Chicago has been home since 2012, after Shanghai, where I was Distinguished Professor at Shanghai International Studies University. I hold a doctoral degree in English (Sociolinguistics) from Texas A&M University.
Sometimes I write a literary column for The Edge in Malaysia I am always Contributing Editor for Jaggery. I also write for a lot of other publications, so feel free to browse through my site while you are here and read my work…thanks for stopping by!
Say Hello! 2022/23
Book Events For Dialect of Distant Harbors
(Partially funded by a DCASE Chicago Esteemed Artist Award 2022)
Feb 6, 2023
Featured Poet: KGB Bar, NY, hosted by CavanKerry Press
November 28-30, 2022
Featured Speaker: Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, Bangalore, India
November 24-27, 2022
Workshop Leader: Georgetown Literary Festival , Malaysia
November TBD, 2022
Book Launch & Reading, Dialect of Distant Harbors, Hikayat, Penang, Malaysia
November 21, 2022
Featured Speaker: Nottingham University, Malaysia
November TBD, 2022
Featured Speaker: IPG Kampus Bahasa Antarabangsa, KL, Malaysia
November 12, 2022
Book Launch & Reading, Dialect of Distant Harbors, Perdu, Amsterdam, Panel Discussants Karen Kao, Mia You and Milla van der Have
October 19, 2022
Featured Reader: Blue Hour Reading, Dialect of Distant Harbors, Co-hosted by Poetry Centre of Chicago and Haymarket House, Chicago,
October 15, 2022
Book Launch & Reading, Dialect of Distant Harbors, South Asia Institute, Chicago, Panel Discussants Mary Anne Mohanraj and Faisal Mohyuddin
October
11, 2022
Book Launch & Reading, Dialect of Distant Harbors, Midland Authors, Chicago, October 11, with Ishti Collective Dancers
October 6, 2022
Featured Reader, University of Lincoln Nebraska, Dept of Ethnic Studies and Creative Writing, October 6
October 4, 2022
Zoom Book Launch of Dialect of Distant Harbors with Dianne Silvestri
September 30, 2022
Featured Reader: Book People, Austin Texas. Moderated by Kiku Chaudhuri with Udit Mehrotra, September 30
September 10-11 2022
New York Poetry Festival CavanKerry reading with Marina Carreira, Dipika Mukherjee and Dianne Silvestri
September 8, 2022
Other Events…2023
March 21-31, 2023: WRITE IN THE HIMALAYAS!!
Workshop Leader: The Himalayan Writing Retreat, Uttarakhand, India. Co-hosted by StoryStudio Chicago
Recent (Past) Events…2022
July 17-August 16, 2022
Writing Residency: Xochi Quetzal, Chapala, Mexico, (funded by DCASE Esteemed Writer Award)
February 27, 2022
Featured Writer: Readings at Home, Kuala Lumpur
February 17, 2022
Featured Writer: Open Heart Chicago, an Anthology of Chicago Writing, Chicago
February 17, 2022
Creative Writing Fellow: Ragdale Residency and Fellowship. Residency of 25 days and participation in Ragdale in Schools Fellowship Program
January 30, 2022
Featured Writer: Sunday Salon, Chicago. January.
FICTION
Shambala Junction. Novel. 2016
WINNER OF THE 4TH VIRGINIA PRIZE FOR FICTION
Ode to Broken Things. Novel. 2016
Longlisted For Man Asian Literary Prize (Published as Thunder Demons in the Indian Subcontinent)
