Travelling, creative resistance and retreating

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Hey it’s been a busy March! I panelled and performed in New York at the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective’s Annual Literary Festival, lectured and read at Ottawa’s Carleton University (my alma mater), facilitated a workshop and read in Guelph at the re-launch of “Saturday Night: Untold Stories of Sexual Assault in Guelph” and tonight I head to St. Catharine’s to speak to a pop culture and queerness class. A ton of activity and travelling in one month.

One question I’ve been mulling over this March is the role of critical fiction as creative resistance…in other words, what are the ways in which fiction can challenge stereotypes, ways of being, and the status quo through story, narrative and voice? And how does a writer do this lyrically versus pedantically?

Both Stealing Nasreen and my second novel contain themes and writing that challenge society’s norms…but it’s interesting…as I wrote them, I didn’t think too much about these issues. It was only in the editing process that I thought critically about the work–it was more an unconscious process. Still, the politics came through, perhaps because they are there even in my unconscious world…and maybe it’s a good thing to avoid thinking too much during the creative phase of the work, or else I might get too self-conscious and bogged down by my own thoughts…

I’ve got more travelling coming this week…I head to Del Rio, Texas on Saturday to visit family and to do a mini-writing retreat. I look forward to Tejano culture, palm trees, a comfy bed, a sense of belonging in a home away from home and writing…just writing without much  distraction beyond Priya the dog.

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