Young Adult Literature: A conversation with South Asian authors
View the recording on the SASS Tube
An evening in conversation with 5 authors of South Asian Young Adult Literature. K-12 teachers are especially encouraged to attend.
Speakers:
Tanya Boteju (https://tanyaboteju.com): "Tanya Boteju (she/her) is an English teacher and writer living on unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, Canada). She completed her English and Education degrees at the University of British Columbia, then spent time in New York attaining her Master of Arts through Columbia University’s Teachers College. Most recently, Tanya received a Creative Writing Certificate through Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio. Her writing life has mostly consisted of teaching writing in Vancouver, where she has continually been inspired by the brilliant young people in her midst. In both teaching and writing, she is committed to positive, diverse representation.”
Rajani LaRocca (https://www.rajanilarocca.com): “Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor winning middle grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks.”
Syed Masood (https://www.syed-masood.com): “I grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and currently live in Sacramento, California. There have been plenty of stops in between though. I’m a first generation immigrant, twice over. I’ve been a citizen of three different countries and lived in nine cities. I am, as Goethe, said, “nothing but a wanderer […] on this earth”. Living among different people, in different countries at fascinating times in their histories, has shaped both my view of the world and my writing. Ultimately, human beings are the same everywhere (despite the fact that they tell themselves, everywhere, that they are different from each other), and the theme of this fundamental human unity informs everything I write.”
Sajni Patel (https://www.sajnipatel.com): “Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books, drawing on her experiences growing up in Texas, an inexplicable knack for romance and comedy, and the recently resurfaced dark side of fantastical things. Her works have appeared on numerous Best of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmo, Oprah Magazine, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, Audiofile, Tribeza, Austin Woman’s Magazine, NBC, The Insider, PopSugar, Buzzfeed, and many others.”
Anuradha Rajurkar (https://www.anuradharajurkar.com): “Anuradha D. Rajurkar is the national recipient of the SCBWI Emerging Voices Award for her contemporary debut novel, American Betiya. Born and raised in the Chicago area to Indian immigrant parents, Anuradha earned two degrees from Northwestern University, and for many years had the joy of being a public school teacher by day, writer by night. She hopes her stories will inspire teens to embrace their unique identities and inner badass despite outside pressures and cultural expectations.”
Moderated by Stanford senior Karunya Bhramasandra.
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If you need a disability-related accommodation, please contact southasiainfo [at] stanford.edu (southasiainfo[at]stanford[dot]edu). Requests should be made by May 10th.