Excitement! Excitement! My new children's fantasy novel, Shadowland, came out today! (For a description and excerpt, see www.chitradivakaruni.com). It is a stand alone book, but it's also the final novel in the Brotherhood of the Conch trilogy, a project I began in 2002--a long haul. I want to share with you a bit of the story of how all this came to be.
At that time I'd been writing for several years and had already published Arranged Marriage, Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Vine of Desire and my books of poetry. I was perfectly happy writing for adults and had no plans of venturing into children's literature. But something happened late in 2001 that changed my mind.
This was in the difficult days soon after 9/11, when as a nation we were grappling with tragedy and a sudden new feeling of vulnerability. A wave of hate crimes were sweeping the country, mostly directed towards people who looked "dangerous." The Indian American community was targeted, too--businesses vandalized, people beat up, lives lost.
I was in the parking lot outside our local grocery one evening with my seven year old son, just having finished shopping, when a couple of young men drove up in a truck. They yelled obscenities and told me to "go back where I came from," then roared off. I was speechless with fear and anger and an illogical sense of shame--the more so when my son asked me what had we done, and why those men had been so mad with us.
That night I lay in bed unable to sleep and thought about one of the main reasons I had started writing--that I believed it was a wonderful way to share my stories, my culture and the history of my people with readers who were Indian as well as those who came from other backgrounds. A good book dissolved boundaries between people and promoted understanding--of the self, and of those we might have labeled "other."
But now I saw that in some ways my work had been futile. I'd been preaching to the choir. People who picked up my books most probably were Indian--or already interested in other cultures . People like the men in the truck would never read any of my books. They had already closed their minds. I would never change the way they felt toward people like me.
That was the moment when I decided that I must write for children. I felt it was imperative to touch readers who still had the capacity to embrace the unknown and whose views of the world were still being formed. My hope for children of Indian origin was that if they saw themselves reflected in art, it would interest them in their culture and strengthen their sense of identity. My hope for children of other backgrounds was that they would come to love the Indian characters in the books and see parts of themselves reflected in them. Once you knew and loved people through books, wouldn't you be less suspicious when you met people like them in real life? Less inclined to look down on them or harm them?
I decided I would challenge myself by bringing into each book characters who have been marginalized in some way. In the first book, The Conch Bearer, I focused on children who lived in the slums of Kolkata. In The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, many of the characters were Muslim. In Shadowland, I show the plight of the "illegals," people without papers and thus without rights.
That's how it started, this journey that today has led to the birth of Shadowland.
At that time I'd been writing for several years and had already published Arranged Marriage, Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Vine of Desire and my books of poetry. I was perfectly happy writing for adults and had no plans of venturing into children's literature. But something happened late in 2001 that changed my mind.
This was in the difficult days soon after 9/11, when as a nation we were grappling with tragedy and a sudden new feeling of vulnerability. A wave of hate crimes were sweeping the country, mostly directed towards people who looked "dangerous." The Indian American community was targeted, too--businesses vandalized, people beat up, lives lost.
I was in the parking lot outside our local grocery one evening with my seven year old son, just having finished shopping, when a couple of young men drove up in a truck. They yelled obscenities and told me to "go back where I came from," then roared off. I was speechless with fear and anger and an illogical sense of shame--the more so when my son asked me what had we done, and why those men had been so mad with us.
That night I lay in bed unable to sleep and thought about one of the main reasons I had started writing--that I believed it was a wonderful way to share my stories, my culture and the history of my people with readers who were Indian as well as those who came from other backgrounds. A good book dissolved boundaries between people and promoted understanding--of the self, and of those we might have labeled "other."
But now I saw that in some ways my work had been futile. I'd been preaching to the choir. People who picked up my books most probably were Indian--or already interested in other cultures . People like the men in the truck would never read any of my books. They had already closed their minds. I would never change the way they felt toward people like me.
That was the moment when I decided that I must write for children. I felt it was imperative to touch readers who still had the capacity to embrace the unknown and whose views of the world were still being formed. My hope for children of Indian origin was that if they saw themselves reflected in art, it would interest them in their culture and strengthen their sense of identity. My hope for children of other backgrounds was that they would come to love the Indian characters in the books and see parts of themselves reflected in them. Once you knew and loved people through books, wouldn't you be less suspicious when you met people like them in real life? Less inclined to look down on them or harm them?
I decided I would challenge myself by bringing into each book characters who have been marginalized in some way. In the first book, The Conch Bearer, I focused on children who lived in the slums of Kolkata. In The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, many of the characters were Muslim. In Shadowland, I show the plight of the "illegals," people without papers and thus without rights.
That's how it started, this journey that today has led to the birth of Shadowland.
Hello, I'm a French woman and I live in the south of France. I first read The Mistress of Spices, then all your others books. It was a way for me to discover indian ways of life, specially indian women. As I'm a storyteller (that's my job), I was interested by indian tales. I work with a classroom (the children are 10-11 years old). I told them several tales and they now know who Shiva and Ganesh are. They have made puppets and there will be a show for their parents on April 16th. The children enjoyed to discover indian stories. There is a little girl in that group : her parents come from India. She's the only one : there's not a lot of Indian People in South of France. She was very proud to explain to the others children things about the cooking and so on. So, you see, this workshop exists just because you write books and one day I've read one of them
I am intrigued by your vision and this series. What age group is this targeted toward? I have a 5 year old who sometimes gets embarrassed when I talk to her in Urdu in public. I try to convey to her the richness of our culture and the beauty of being multilingual. Some concepts at this age are just too abstract to grasp.
Shaila Abdullah
I am a woman in my mid-30s who has been reading all of your books for years. Although I am interested in other cultures, I am not Indian--rather, I am the all American mutt--Puerto Rican and Polish from my father and Italian and French Canadian from my mother. ;-)
Just wanted to say how much I have loved your books and the message of peace and tolerance in the children's books.
Hello Chitra, I just left a comment for this post on red room. I only go to that site anymore to see if you have left a post. Now that it's National Poetry Month, I am busy with my NC Poet Laureate blog, along with writing blurbs and trying to get back to my own work. I will be featuring the new books of several splendid poets over the next few weeks.
One of my best friends, poet Mary Adams, took her PhD in writing at Houston. She had probably already left, however, by the time you arrived. My daughter is/was in the S. Asian dept. at UT-Austin, translating Pakistani women fiction writers. It is through her that I came to know your work some years ago. Thank you for your posts. Kathryn
Thoughtful.
Thank you for sharing.
Added to reader.
Hi Shaila
This series is targeted to grades 5 and up, though strong readers or those whose parents might read to them can start on them earlier. I think many of us with children have had the same experience as you---at a certain age, children just don't want to be different. it takes maturity to accept difference--in ourselves and in others.
Hi Chitra,
I'm a cardiologist from New York and don't have much time to read fiction. Being Indian I was intrigued by palace of illusions and once I started it, I couldn't put it down! I think it's a beautiful book. It flows so well. There were times when I felt I was sitting right next to Draupadi. The Mahabharata from a woman's perspective - what an innovative approach. Thank you for this book. I would love to attend a book reading/signing by you. I think I shall read Mistress of Spices next.
-Anshu
Thank you, Patricia. I am so honored to read your note. It validates my belief in the power of literature to create community.
Kathryn,
That was such an eloquent entry at Red Room --please do post it here for the readers here. I hope you'll comment on my new poetry blog entry, too.
I'm going to check out your poet laureate blog--could you include a link for readers who might be interested?
Thanks!
Hi :) has this book released in India as well?? I wanna grab a copy :)
Am a big fan of your writing and have always blindly picked all your books. I had picked The Mirror of Fire & Dreaming 1st and realised that it is a part of a series. I later tracked down The Coonch Bearer and despite the fact that both the books are termed as children's book I enjoyed both of them thoroughly.
I'll repeat what I said in my review of both the books "Given the liberty I would say that with proper advertising & promotion the series has all to make it as the Indian version of Harry Porter" :-)
Hi Smita
Thanks for the great reviews! You may be interested to know, Conch Bearer has been optioned for a movie. I'm thinking positive! Shadowland should be out in India by now, from Roli Books.
Chitra, I'll be happy to add the Red Room post to your blog comments. I've been so busy lately, with National Poetry Month and my laureate blog (daily posts plus some) that I've not had time left over for Red Room or your own blog, alas. Thank you for your generous response. Your readers may go to my blog--listed above--to find more poetry--or to my personal blog--kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com, on which I post some of my own work, photos, and so forth.
Namaskar Chitra Devi,
I am so happy to hear about a new children's book. My son is turning 12 and loves your books. He was just asking when another one was coming out! I'm now going through the adult books. I love how each chapter ends with a new surprise running into the next. Thank you for writing and sharing your stories! Anjali
Dr Chitra please accept my regards. i am doing PhD ON YOUR WORKS. IVE BEEN REALLY IMPRESSED BY YOUR UNIQUE WAY OF WRITING AND EMPHATICALLY EXPRESSING WOMEN'S FEELINGS . IVE ESPECIALLY LIKED SISTER OF MY HEART.
u will b pleased to know that i am also doing Ph.d on divakaruni's novels