Brown Motherhood

Brown Motherhood:

A conversation with 5 mothers and writers of South Asian descent — Namrata Poddar, Sonora Jha, Usha Reena Rungoo, Shilpa Agarwal, and Gayatri Sethi — who’ll read from their work and talk representation, identity and intersectionality (via race, class, caste, gender, religion, sexual orientation and migration) and share what brownness, motherhood, writing as well as raising socially conscious children means to them.

About the Writers: Namrata Poddar writes fiction, nonfiction and serves as the Interviews Editor for Kweli where she curates a series on Race, Power, and Storytelling. Her work has appeared in Longreads, Literary Hub, Poets & Writers, The Los Angeles Times, The Kenyon Review, The Best Asian Short Stories anthology, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, “Border Less,” was a finalist for Feminist Press's Louise Meriwether Prize, and is forthcoming from 7.13 Books. IG: @writerpoddar; Twitter: @poddar_namrata.

Sonora Jha, Ph.D., is a novelist, essayist, researcher, and a Professor of Journalism at Seattle University. She is the author of the novel Foreign (Random House India, 2013), based on the true stories of farmers' suicides in contemporary India. Sonora was born in India, where she had a career as a journalist in Mumbai and Bangalore before moving to Singapore and then to the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Political Communication. Dr. Jha's academic research on the emerging intersections of the press, politics, and the Internet has been published in top-tier national and international scholarly journals. Her OpEds and essays have been published in The New York Times, Seattle Times, The Establishment, and DAME. Sonora teaches fiction and essay writing for Hugo House, Hedgebrook Writers’ Retreat, and Seattle Public Library. She is an alumna and board member of Hedgebrook Writers’ Retreat, and has served on the jury for awards for Artist Trust, Hedgebrook, and Hugo House. Sonora's new book is How to Raise a Feminist Son: Motherhood, Masculinity, and the Making of My Family (Sasquatch Books, USA and Penguin Random House India, April 2021).

Usha Rungoo is a scholar, teacher and speaker from Mauritius, based in the US. She is an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York, Purchase College, and is currently at work on a few academic and creative projects.

Shilpa Agarwal is the author of the internationally-published novel, Haunting Bombay, a San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller. Shilpa is the host of the weekly global radio show, Lifeforce, exploring the forces that awaken our lives, airing weekly on global stations Rukus Avenue Radio and Dash Radio, and available on all major podcasting platforms. Shilpa was featured on the United Nations’ album, Music to Inspire: Artists United Against Human Trafficking. She has been a writer for the Disney animated TV show, Mira, Royal Detective and was a founder and former Artistic Director of the South Asian arts festival, ArtWallah, building a hub of art and community in Los Angeles and across the diaspora. She has graduate degrees in Comparative Literature and taught at UCLA and UCSB. Shilpa is a writer of social justice and the inner world, seeking truth where it has been buried, and striving always for moments of hope, strength, and grace. She is a skilled energetic healer and is currently finishing a trilogy of novels exploring the loss and recovery of the Self. www.shilpaagarwal.com

Gayatri Sethi is an educator, writer, and independent consultant based in Atlanta. She Teaches And Writes About Social Justice, Global Studies, And Comparative Education. Born in Tanzania and raised in Botswana, she is of South Asian Punjabi descent, multilingual, and polycultural. She reflects on these lifelong experiences of identity, immigration, and belonging in her debut book titled Unbelonging. When she is not homeschooling or recommending readings as Desi Book Aunty, she travels the globe with her students and family. Visit: https://gayatrisethi.com/

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