Seal Press Offers Publication
I’m thrilled and honored to announce that I’ve won the She Writes to Seal Press Publishing Contest. Seal Press will be offering me a publishing contract for Night of Vishnu: A Journey Through Marriage, Motherhood and Rebellion in Nepal. More details soon. If you’re interested in how the contest unfolded, follow these links: Seal Press [...]Read More
Selected as Finalist in Seal Press Publishing Contest
I’m honored to be one of five finalists in the Seal Press Publishing Contract Contest. The contest was co-sponsored by She Writes, an online community of women writers and invited submissions of full book proposals for a chance to win a publishing contract with Seal Press. I submitted a proposal for Night of Vishnu: A [...]Read More
One Book Becomes Two
For several years, I’ve obsessed over a project I’ve been calling Sacred Threads — a memoir on my complicated relationship with Nepal. I thought it would be one book. Unfortunately, it grew too long to be marketable, especially for a first time author. Fortunately, I now see how to break the narrative into two books….Read More
“Beyond Writing” Resurrected
Long ago (1994), I wrote and published an essay in Cultural Anthropology titled “Beyond Writing: Feminism and the Limitations of Ethnography.” That was in many ways my swan song to academia. As I licked my academic and other wounds and struggled to make ends meet, I was happy now and then to hear how my [...]Read More
Writing With Two Eyes
One of the weights I carry from my academic days is a fear that in telling my story of living and working in Nepal, I’ll be appropriating The Other. As weights go, it could be a lot worse; I’m not complaining. But I’m always delighted and relieved to find others grappling with the same question in creative ways….Read More
Truth and Lies: Where to Draw the Line?
I’m still sorting through my reactions to the controversy emerging around Three Cups of Tea (co-authored by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin). The book has inspired many and been a platform for raising millions of dollars for the Central Asia Institute ( I recommend reading Jon Krakauer’s full allegations (pdf) against the book and [...]Read More
Flapping with Crows
Yet another excerpt from Sacred Threads has been published, this one in the marvelous Raven Chronicles. This issue features writing and art on corvids. My essay isn’t about crows, ravens or jays (though I’m thinking I’d like to write about them some day); it’s in the Cultural Geography section – a recurring feature in every [...]Read More
“Costume” Published
My essay, “Costume,” has been published in the Bio Issue of In Posse Review. TweetShareRead More
Listed as Notable in Best American Essays 2010
My essay, “Ama,” published in Crab Orchard Review, has been chosen as a Notable for The Best American Essays 2010. Although, I did not get selected for the final book, I am proud to be among such authors as Barry Lopez, Susan Orlean, Paul Theroux, Naomi Klein and many others who also made the Notable [...]Read More
From Prose to Poetry and Back
‘m sad that I’m not participating in the poem-a-day madness of National Poetry Month. That’s what pulled me into a poetry last year. I hoped to discover new ways to bring music and imagery into my prose, never thinking I’d fall in love with writing and reading poetry itself (something I’d always avoided)….Read More
Hiding
Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’ve been hiding from my blogging duties for awhile….Read More
Nominated for Pushcart Prize
Last week, I found my name on a list of Pushcart Prize nominees at The Gettysburg Review. I published “Natural Births,” a chapter from Sacred Threads, in their Spring 2009 issue….Read More
First Wednesday Reading at Blackbird Wineshop
On Wednesday, April 7 from 7-9 pm, I’ll be joining Peter Sears, Jackie Shannon-Hollis and Brian Christopher for a reading and wine-tasting co-hosted by Oregon Literary Review and Blackbird Wine Shop in Portland, Oregon….Read More
Forthcoming Literary Nonfiction
More recent successes in publishing my literary nonfiction: The Raven Chronicles has accepted a condensed and modified chapter from my ethnographic memoir, Sacred Threads, for publication. “Meeting my Future in the Dark” about the first meeting with my Nepali in-laws over twenty years ago should be out in print next spring or summer. After following [...]Read More
Literary Rejections I’m Grateful For
It’s easy for an emerging writer like myself to become obsessed with rejection. That’s mostly what comes back from all the packets I mail or documents I upload with a hopeful, electronic click….Read More
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Promiscuous Metaphors
I’ve outgrown my confusion over how to use Twitter. I’ve even learned to enjoy it. But until recently, I was still enough of a snob to be skeptical about finding literary inspiration there….Read More
Witnessing
It’s wonderful to have more and more pieces published online and in-print. But it also feels a bit disembodied. If I’m lucky, I may exchange a few emails or have a phone conversation with an editor. I never meet the others whose pieces share the same binding with me. It’s all understandable given how busy the world is, but still odd….Read More
