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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Talks On Bringing Women To Center Stage: Author Spotlight
“I recognize what they are singing. It’s not Valmiki’s great epic! They’re singing the pages I’d written in my lonely darkness, out of the need to give voice to all of us who were pushed to the edges. Misjudged, misunderstood. My truth, and the truth of women, whose lives touched mine for better or worse. Their laughter and tears, their triumph and suffering, their blessings and curses.” – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Women in history and mythology have rarely been portrayed, if at all mentioned elaborately, with honesty, vulnerability, free of prejudice and crediting to the successes they have always deserved. We know of Draupadi and Sita as being dutiful wives…
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Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Reading Favorites
Did you know that May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month? Since President Carter issued Proclamation 4650 in 1979, May has been designated to pay tribute to the collective contributions and accomplishments of generations of Asian/Pacific Americans in American culture, history, and society. Being an Asian fresh off the boat, I recently found out about this celebration and was thrilled to know that while I have been reading Asian literature since my childhood, there is so much more left to explore, especially from the immigrant perspective. In the last few years, I also started exploring literature other than my own South Asian heritage and more focused on the…
