Contributor Spotlight: Aparna Sanyal

[Blog|Contributor Spotlight]

Aparna Sanyal’s short story “Inheritance” is part of Issue 83 of Bellingham Review. Subscribe or purchase a single issue through our Submittable page here.

(Photo Credit: Babita Narang Kochar)

What would you like to share with our readers about the work you contributed to Bellingham Review?

I wanted to write a short story that followed Aristotle’s idea of the perfect tragic play: one place, one time, one action. There was a period of about a decade when I traveled frequently between Montreal and Kolkata, and often had long “addas” — conversations — with family members, conversations that involved unresolved conflicts in sitting rooms.

Tell us about your writing life.

I’ve been writing professionally for sixteen years. Usually, there are events in my past that reappear in my memory, stronger each time, and demand resolution. The only resolution that works for me is in literature. I’m obsessed with the human face, transgressive individuals, transcultural life and language, and madness.

Which non-writing aspect(s) of your life influence(s) your writing the most?

The dislocation and instability of migration, including mental distress. The cities of Montreal, Kolkata, and Florence. Anticolonial and human rights movements around the world, but especially in India and Canada. European philosophers, especially Nietzsche and Frankfurt School.

What writing advice has stayed with you?

“Write the story from the beginning to the middle to the end.” Montreal writer (and my friend), Elise Moser.

What is your favorite book (or essay, poem, short story)?

Emerson’s essays. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Writers Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Richard Wright, Mulk Raj Anand.

What are you reading right now?

Judy Fong Bates’ The Year of Finding Memory for the Bengal Club.

What project(s) are you working on now, or next?

I’m working on a novelette titled “Tenants,” based in Montreal, that focuses on the friendship of a young Indo-Canadian woman and the elderly Greek-Canadian superintendent of her apartment building. It is the last story of a planned collection.

Anything else our readers might want to know about you?

I’ve kayaked in: Ecopark near Kolkata; St. Lawrence River near Montreal; Connecticut River near Hanover; Charan Beel in Assam; Montreal’s the Lachine Canal; Rouge River; Ottawa River; Georgian Bay; 1000 Islands; and Calgary’s Glenmore Reservoir. I will shortly be kayaking near Anjuna Beach in Goa.

Where can our readers connect with you online?

LinkedIn: http://www.ca.linkedin.com/in/aparnasanyalwritereditor

Aparna Sanyal is a Canadian writer currently based in Kolkata, India. Her work has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, River Oak Review, The Malahat Review, and Pif Magazine, among others. She recently completed a Master of Arts degree in English literature at McGill University, winning a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council award, and was a frequent literary contributor to The Globe and Mail.

Featured Image: “Dusty Space Cloud” by NASA