Nalini Iyer
Sonali Kolhatkar, author of ‘Rising Up,’ to speak at Town Hall
Rising Up is a slender book in which Sonali Kolhatkar succinctly makes the argument that stories have the power to make social change.
She begins by outlining how people of color encounter racism in...
“Murder at Jaipur” is a perfect, sumptuous mystery read for the summer
Writer Bharti Kirchner is back with her intrepid Indian-American detective in her third Maya Mallick mystery, Murder at Jaipur (Camel Press, 2023). Fans of the series know that Maya is a globe- trotting detective...
The IE turns 50: A longtime arts writer looks back
More than 20 years ago, I was having lunch with local author Bharti Kirchner when she asked if I would be interested in doing book reviews for the International Examiner. I was then a...
Epic novel ‘The Covenant of Water’ follows three generations of an Indian Christian family
Abraham Verghese is back with a new novel almost fourteen years after the publication of his immensely popular Cutting for Stone (2009). His fans will be delighted with the new book which although over...
Banned film Joyland, Pakistan’s Academy Awards nominee, sheds light on family, gender, sexuality and...
Joyland arrives in US theaters surrounded by significant buzz — the film was Pakistan’s nominee for the recent Academy Awards, it won two awards at Cannes in 2022, was briefly banned in Pakistan, and...
Nanpakal Nerathil Mayakkam is remarkably provocative
A group of Christian pilgrims from Kerala are returning on a bus from their visit to the Vailankanni shrine in Tamil Nadu. Their leader is James ( performed by Mammooty) is a grumpy man...
Kismet is a South Asian gothic thriller with a wicked sense of humor
Ronnie Khan, a Pakistani American woman, moves to Sedona with Marley Dewhurst, her new friend and life-coach, in this new novel by Amina Akhtar. Sedona and life with Marley are a far cry from...
‘Seven Moons’ is an essential read about Sri Lankan Civil War
The civil war in Sri Lanka that lasted 25 years from 1983 to 2009 has inspired numerous writers including Shyam Selvadurai, Anup Arudpragasam, Nayomi Munaweera, Romesh Gunasekhara, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Michael Ondaatje and others.
The...
All That Breathes asks us to ponder links between people, ecology
All That Breathes is an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature and with good reason. The film follows two brothers, Saud and Nadeem, and their friend, Salik, who manage a bird hospital of black...
Two South Asian American authors to read at Third Place Books, Ravenna
Oindrila Mukherjee’s debut novel, The Dream Builders, intertwines the stories of the inhabitants of the fictional town of Hrishipur, a city that has sprung up outside Delhi where farmlands are rapidly developed into luxury...