BIO
My writing has appeared in several regional and national publications in the United States and in India. I’m an award-winning columnist for India Currents Magazine and my column titled “On Inglish” was consistently rated among “the most read” in the magazine. A feature I wrote for India Currents won a New America Media prize; several columns won the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club prize. I’m a contributor to Bay City News Foundation which serves the San Francisco Bay Area.
An essay of mine A Room Of Our Own was anthologized in Kitaab’s Singapore At Home: Life Across The Lines in 2021. A travel story I wrote titled Flora and Fauna in Madrid was published in Travelers’ Tales Whose Panties Are These? in 2004.
In 2011, I won a first prize—and the attention of an agent—at a contest at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park for the best one-minute book pitch; it catalyzed some of my book-length writing projects based on India. An interview with Kanakavalli of Chennai is at bit.ly/2kNKvalI says more about my thoughts on writing.
In fall 2019, my book, DADDYKINS: A MEMOIR OF MY FATHER AND I, was part of the curriculum in a creative writing course, Uses of Personal Experience, at San Francisco State University, bit.ly/2kesfsu. I was featured at the Hyderabad Literary Festival in India on January 24, 2020 and I participated in a panel on memoir and moderated a panel on fiction: bit.ly/1KalMohyd
Over the years, I’ve been an active participant at readings at several event spaces in the Bay Area; I’ve been selected to be a participant of the writing community at Vermont’s Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival and CAMAC artists in residence program in France.
MY BOOKS:
DADDYKINS: A MEMOIR OF MY FATHER AND I, was published by Bloomsbury India in September 2018. The work is a meditation on life, death, love and loss, and the very special bond between fathers and daughters. An essay of mine published in The Hindu—bit.ly/2wGByeDd—tells you about the genesis of that book. Read the reviews at http://bit.ly/DkRvAm, http://bit.ly/DkRvST, and at http://bit.ly/DkRvVK.
AN ENGLISH MADE IN INDIA: HOW A FOREIGN LANGUAGE BECAME LOCAL, is a story of the evolution of the English language in India. Published by Aleph Book Company in September 2019, it traces the history of the English language in India. While exploring how India’s regional languages have influenced English, the book also examines the social, psychological and cultural ramifications of the language on India and its people. The book takes a peripatetic approach; it follows the lives of eight people in different parts of India. Read reviews of this book by Asian Review of Books (http://bit.ly/2kARBrvu), by Livemint (http://bit.ly/2LMEmRv) and by Deccan Chronicle (http://bit.ly/3MRVdcn)
SOME MILESTONES:
In September 2023, I was invited to the Saratoga Public Library to speak about about my writing journey where I read excerpts from my work.
In October 2023, I participated in a panel, First Country: Of Mothers & Fathers, as part of the South Asian Literature And Arts Festival in Atherton, California.
SOME STORIES FOR BAY CITY NEWS FOUNDATION:
A WEEKLY PROJECT ON SUBSTACK: BOOKS IN TRANSLATION
SO MUCH TO SAY (A SECOND SUBSTACK NEWSLETTER)
SOME AWARD-WINNING COLUMNS FOR INDIA CURRENTS:
WRITINGS ON SOCIAL MEDIA (FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM)
Contact: mohan.kalpana@gmail.com