, was published in 2015 by the wonderful publishing house Europa Editions, and was a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters Steven Turner Award for Best Work of First Fiction. Please tell us what we need to know about your book.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: You can purchase it at BookPeople, Malvern, or your favorite independent bookstore. But seriously, it is a love story about a couple trying to navigate their way through a legacy and re-escalation of political tensions in their fictional country. I have been told that it is very relevant, unfortunately, to today\u2019s political climate. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: For more than a decade you have published short stories, reviews, and essays in many publications, including New England Review<\/em>, Colorado Review<\/em>, Chicago Quarterly Review<\/em>, Catapult<\/em>, Los Angeles Review of Books<\/em>, Brooklyn Magazine<\/em>, the Austin American-Statesman<\/em>, and the Texas Observer<\/em>. What is your advice for writers to achieve successful submissions? What\u2019s the most useful advice you\u2019ve received about writing?<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: One is to write a lot. Two, find some honest readers who can tell you if the piece is ready for submission or not. Three, submit, and don\u2019t give up. I still get rejections all the time, but I keep sending work out and have very rarely given up on a piece that I think is worthy of publication.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The most useful advice I\u2019ve received about writing is to revise until your writing is smarter than you are. I believe that came from Robert Boswell. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Many of these pieces address living and reading in the United States during the Trump administration. What do you think has changed, and should change, about reading? How can our reading affect change in society?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: I\u2019m passionate about this both as a writer and an educator. Reading has always been something people have had to fight for\u2014which is part of why it is so powerful. Why were enslaved people punished for learning to read? Why are there people in power who are so determined to ban certain books and ideas? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I think those of us who understand the value of literature have to insist on the prominence of reading in our culture\u2014reading broadly and deeply and not letting our comprehension and critical thinking skills atrophy. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s only on the political \u201cright\u201d that reading, comprehension, and critical thinking have suffered. All of us need to read better. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Let\u2019s talk process for a bit. Some authors start from dialogue, some start from character, others begin at the end. What\u2019s your process like and how do you know what form a piece should take? <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: It always starts with character for me. Until I know whose story I want to tell, I\u2019m just fiddling around. I need to find a character I want to spend a lot of time with, and then I can start to build a world around that. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Since this is Lone Star Lit, I always ask what Texas means to writers and their work. You left India when you were two years old and grew up in New York and Pennsylvania. How has Texas shaped you and your work? How would your work be different if you\u2019d remained in the East?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: I never know what a place means to me until I leave it. I\u2019m about to start working on a novel about New York, finally, after being away for fourteen years. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I never thought I would end up in Texas. It\u2019s a place of very stark contradictions, which is great fodder for literature, but I haven\u2019t been able to write much about it yet. It\u2019s been an exciting place, that\u2019s about all I can say right now. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Which writers do you admire and why? How have these writers inspired your own work? Which Texas authors would you recommend to readers who enjoy your novel? <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Among my favorite writers are James Baldwin, Elena Ferrante, Colson Whitehead, Toni Morrison, Edward P. Jones, and Yiyun Li. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I think the entirety of my reading life has influenced me, from the Nancy Drew books I read as a child to the phase I went through where I only read literature from Latin America, to all the classics I read in high school, and beyond. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
As far as Texas authors, there are so many just here in Austin, let alone around the state. I highly recommend Natalia Sylvester, ire\u2019ne lara silva, Attica Locke, Oscar C\u00e1sares, Jennifer DuBois, Donna Johnson, Kirk Walsh, Fernando A. Flores, and Elizabeth McCracken. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The people I\u2019ve interviewed for Borderless are a good indication of who I think people should pay attention to. I\u2019ll be interviewing Varian Johnson in November. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LSLL<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: Can you tell us what\u2019s next for you and your work?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
CS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: I\u2019m revising my second novel, a coming-of-age story of a twelve-year-old Bengali girl living in Pennsylvania in 1983. After that I hope to get started on my third novel, set in New York City. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n