As part of the workshops presented by Authorpalooza, “Panel on Diversity: How do you do it right?”, is a part of the education available for writers during the conference.
Saborna Roychowdhury will be one of the panelists for this event, which will take place on Saturday, October 7, 2023.
From her press bio:
In 2004, Saborna Roychowdry’s short story Bengal Monsoon appeared in New York Stories magazine and
received a Pushcart Prize nomination. Saborna’s debut novel, “The Distance,” was published in the U.S. by
Istoria books. “The Distance” received a starred review from Publishers Weekly in 2013. Her second
novel, Everything Here Belongs to You, was released in June by Texas-based publisher, Black Rose Writing
and received a starred review from Indie Reader. Kirkus Reviews called her book, A heart-wrenching
family drama, as powerful as it is delicate. The novel was well-received in other publications in the U.S.
and elsewhere, including the Sublime Book Review and Readers’ Favorite. On September 1st, 2022, her
book won 3rd Place/Bronze Medal in the prestigious Reader’s Favorite International Book Awards
contest, Saborna was born and raised in Kolkata, India, and moved to the U.S. for undergraduate work
in chemistry. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and twin daughters.
Viral Hare was given the opportunity to conduct pre-conference interviews by email for Authorpalooza. The first half of the interview is questions asked directly to the author the second half is shown as linked questions, were directed to all of the panelists.
Questions are in bold.
Looking at the plot notes and reviews of your novels I understand that common threads are passion, relationships, and learning your place in this world. By using your writing to translate these universal ideas, do you feel that art is the universal connection?
Yes, I believe literature allows us to cross over boundaries in a beautiful way, in a magical way. It transmits a universal message that can be appreciated despite cultural, religious, and economic differences. Experiences can perhaps be unique, personal and intimate and belong to one culture and one religion but when written with proper empathy and honesty they can overcome barriers and become universal.
I wanted to see if I can write an intellectually serious book that can also feel entertaining and reach a large international audience. That’s why I decided to write a fiction book. Fiction has the power to connect with its audience, move them and make them deeply care about injustice.
In my book, “Everything Here Belongs to You,” I dig into some serious themes with meticulous study, honesty, and integrity. So even though my story is based in Kolkata, India and it is about a poor Muslim maid in the most subjugated circumstances, my readers can relate to her story. The maid’s story hits the reader right in the gut and they can sympathize with her.
Only literature can cross all geographical barriers and time periods and place the reader in the same physical space with the characters and immerse them in their world.
Does your writing and your point of view of the world come out through your teaching of chemistry and how you communicate with your students? Also, have your own personal interactions with family and students influenced and have your writing?
In my classroom, at a high school in Boston, almost every student was a recent immigrant and refugee. They came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Columbia. Most of them didn’t have legal papers and a good percentage of them spoke only in Spanish or Portuguese. The students had poor reading/ writing skills and weak comprehension. It was hard for us teachers to keep them on task. They often disrupted the class, started fights inside the classroom and played pranks on the teachers.
The school administrators had very low expectations from these students. The focus of this school was primarily punishing the kids and handing out detention slips. There was police presence in the school and students were often pulled out of classroom and disciplined.
There were times when I walked into the principal’s office and requested changes. I asked for more support and more resources. “They misbehave because they are bored. We need to assign challenging work for them to perform better…,” I argued. My suggestions were greeted with derision and disbelief.
“They come from uneducated families. Nothing can be done to change their attitude toward learning and achieving.,” the school administrators wanted to tell me. I was encouraged to give the students only busy work and focus on classroom management. Setting very high goals for them was a waste of time.
Years later, when I sat down to write my novel, I thought about these students. No one expected them to succeed. No one wanted to give them an opportunity to prove themselves. Their future was already decided and sealed at that young age.
So my book tackles this issue in a middle-class Hindu family that employs a six-year-old girl as a servant. They make her sit at their feet, discourage her from playing with her friends, and don’t give her proper education. The maid knows even at that age that she has no future. The book shows how education and job opportunities belong to the upper class.
Linked Questions
How would you advise a new writer to process filtering their personal point of view or experience into their writing?
I would tell new writers that they should focus on telling the story first and worry about filtering later. They will see their point of view and experiences show up in their characters, plots, themes, and settings. After they finish the first draft, they should ask for feedback from other writers and editors. If the feedback implies that the writer seems to have an “agenda” then they should revisit and revise the work.
Writers often use the phrase finding or sharing my voice, but does personal experience or points from someone’s life give one different ways to interpret that voice?
A writer’s ‘voice’ is the manifestation of all her life experiences, everything she has read, observed, or cared about. Personal experiences, phases of life, wisdom and maturity will definitely influence and inform the writer’s voice. So the writer’s voice or point of view is not just one person or one idea. At different points of life this voice can be informed differently. I think it is an ever-evolving process.
My stories are infused with experiences of being an immigrant, a girl who grew up in India and an Indian woman in America. All these experiences influence my voice.
With social media and digital connection overtaking so many aspects of life and streaming video is a constant easy access to entertainment, why do you believe the written word is as important as ever for communicating ideas?
Movies and videos are a lazy way of absorbing a story. Videos and movies don’t stimulate our imagination. They can be used only for quick entertainment.
I feel, reading is active while watching movies is passive. Books allow our mind to be creative. When we read books we create a mental picture of the characters based on the information the author gives us. For example in my book, I describe the two men who work in the printing press in this way:
There was a giant man whose belly stuck out from under his T-shirt like a small sized whale. Everyone called him the machine man. And then there was the thin man with thick glasses who always read a newspaper. He was known as the compositor. Next to the machine man, the compositor looked like a dried-up sugarcane stick.
A three hundred- or four-hundred-page book has the opportunity to do so much world building, character development and scene sets. A two-hour film can hardly show so much detail.
Authorpalooaza will take place:
Friday, October 6 – Sunday, October 8, 2023
Hilton Houston Plaza Medical Center Hotel
6633 Travis Street I Houston, TX 77030