Sindya Bhanoo
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Writer & Journalist. Author of Seeking Fortune Elsewhere (2022, Catapult), @oregonstate Asst. Prof. / Former: @UMWallaceHouse, @michenercenter
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Articles by Sindya Bhanoo
Dead Man’s Association
By SINDYA BHANOO Dead Man’s Association meets every Wednesday evening at Padiyappa’s Tea Stall & Smoke Shop. I am the president and the primary focus of the club. There is only one table at Padiyappa’s, but at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, no local would dare take my spot. It’s been this way for the past fifteen years. The tea stall boy, a new chap, hands us stainless steel tumblers of piping hot tea and then hangs around to stare at me.
A Literary Map of South Asian America
Twenty-five years ago, Jhumpa Lahiri began publishing stories that offered America a rare glimpse into South Asian American lives. But Interpreter of Maladies and Lahiri’s other well-known early work represent only an opening into South Asian American stories. Lahiri and her contemporaries, including Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Bharati Mukherjee, were formative for spotlighting the community’s stories beginning in the 1970s and into the early 2000s.
In Three New Story Collections, Much Is Left Unsaid Original
Speaking across linguistic and emotional boundaries, or perhaps not speaking at all, these characters leave the reader to read between the lines. Reading each tale in Diane Williams's I HEAR YOU'RE RICH: Stories (Soho Press, 111 pp., $20) feels like looking into the deep, expressive eyes of a person who doesn't speak much: A great deal is left unsaid.
Here's how to read stories and novels originally written in Esperanto Original
More than 100 years ago, the blind Ukrainian writer Vasily Eroshenko was introduced to the language Esperanto. L.L. Zamenhof, the Polish ophthalmologist who constructed the language in the late 19th century, had envisioned Esperanto as a simple, beautifully designed language that is easy to learn. It has 16 basic rules and no irregular verbs, and draws its roots from Romance languages, German, Slavic and Greek.
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere
These intimate stories of South Indian immigrants and the families they left behind center women's lives and ask how women both claim and surrender power—a stunning debut collection from an O. Henry Prize winner Traveling from Pittsburgh to Eastern Washington to Tamil Nadu, these stories about dislocation and dissonance see immigrants and their families confront the costs of leaving and staying, identifying sublime symmetries in lives growing apart.
Sindya Bhanoo: Seeking Fortune Elsewhere
We are excited to welcome the winner of this year's Oregon Book Award for Fiction, Sindya Bhanoo, as we celebrate the launch of the paperback edition of her award-winning fiction collection Seeking Fortune Elsewhere. These intimate stories of South Indian immigrants and the families they left behind center women's lives and ask how women both claim and surrender power--a stunning debut collection.
Sindya Bhanoo in Conversation with Jyothi Natarajan
We are excited to welcome the winner of this year's Oregon Book Award for Fiction, Sindya Bhanoo, as we celebrate the launch of the paperback edition of her award-winning fiction collection Seeking Fortune Elsewhere. Sindya will be joined in conversation by Jyothi Natarajan. The book's intimate stories of South Indian immigrants and the families they left behind center women's lives and ask how women both claim and surrender power--a stunning debut collection.
Oregon Book Awards Author Tour: Sindya Bhanoo and Eric Tran
Featuring Sindya Bhanoo, 2023 winner of the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction for Seeking Fortune Elsewhere and Eric Tran, 2023 winner of the Stafford/Hall prize for Poetry for Mouth, Sugar, and Smoke. Readings by the authors followed by a Q&A.
Oregon Book Awards Finalists reading: Poetry and Fiction
Eric Tran is a queer Vietnamese poet and the author of Mouth, Sugar, and Smoke (Diode Editions 2022) and The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer (Autumn House Press). His poetry has been featured in All Things Considered, Poetry Daily, and Best of the Net, among other publications. He is completing his fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. Read more
Book Review: ‘Have Mercy on Us,’ by Lisa Cupolo; ‘Call and Response,’ by Gothataone Moeng; ‘Welcome Me to the Kingdom,’ by Mai Nardone
Book Review|Story Collections to Take Readers Around the World https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/books/review/new-short-story-collections.html Many of the characters in Lisa Cupolo’s debut collection, HAVE MERCY ON US (Regal House, 117 pp., paperback, $17.95), are away from home; and even those not traveling seem somehow adrift.
Tsunami Bride
By SINDYA BHANOO As the parakeet-green municipal bus pulled into Cuddalore, Sai held his sign up as high as he could, his forehead burning from the morning sun. He did not want the reporter to miss him. The sign was flimsy, made of two pieces of printer paper taped together, but it was sufficient. He’d written SARA, THE NEW YORK TIMES in thick capital letters with a black marker. He knew of only a handful of women doing serious journalism, mostly Barkha Dutt copycats.
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere
by Sindya Bhanoo reviewed by Rajpreet Heir “Do you understand the sadness of geography?” reads the epigraph to Sindya Bhanoo’s stunning debut short story collection, Seeking Fortune Elsewhere. It’s a question posed by Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan–born Canadian writer who also writes on diaspora. Memory is often a place in these stories about South Indian immigrants and the families they’ve left behind.
IN PERSON - Dalia Azim - COUNTRY OF ORIGIN and Sindya Bhanoo - SEEKING FORTUNE ELSEWHERE
Location: Brazos Bookstore 2421 Bissonnet Street Houston, TX 77005 Brazos Bookstore will be hosting Dalia Azim and Sindya Bhanoo in person on Monday, May 23 at 6:30 pm. Face Masks are required to attend the event. Seating for this event will be limited and first-come-first-serve.
‘Bringing one person’s story to another’
Sindya Bhanoo remembers her family getting the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Spokane’s Spokesman Review at their Pullman home when she was young, but a career in writing didn’t occur to her then. “I never put together that there was a real person going out and interviewing people and writing these stories,” Bhanoo said. “It didn’t even present itself as a possibility.” It wasn’t until around college that she realized she wanted to write. Now, the career journalist and O.
Sindya Bhanoo's short stories carry readers across American landscape
Varanasi, the holy city of Hinduism, and Pittsburgh have one thing in common: They’re both located at the intersection of three rivers. Varanasi sits at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers; Pittsburgh, at the intersection of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio.
Review: 'Seeking Fortune Elsewhere,' by Sindya Bhanoo
Yearning drives the characters in Sindya Bhanoo's elegant, sensitive debut collection "Seeking Fortune Elsewhere." The characters long for appreciation, absent loved ones, the customs of yesteryear, or the opportunity to exercise power. Bhanoo's stories feature several generations of characters from the Tamil community, living in the United States and Tamil Nadu, India, and traveling between. Two of the most resonant stories in the collection, "Malliga Homes," which won the O.
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere
Book Description These intimate stories of South Indian immigrants and the families they left behind center women’s lives and ask how women both claim and surrender power—a stunning debut collection from an O. Henry Prize winner Traveling from Pittsburgh to Eastern Washington to Tamil Nadu, these stories about dislocation and dissonance see immigrants and their families confront the costs of leaving and staying, identifying sublime symmetries in lives growing apart.
For some baby boomers, retirement is a dirty word
Sarah Grossman, the principal of Baystate Business Brokers, poses for a portrait at her home in Needham, Mass., on Feb. 19. Grossman took ownership of the company from her father, Marc Gudema. Photo for The Washington Post by Sophie Park For months after Rick Lehrer sold his share of his insurance company to a business partner, he kept showing up at the office three, sometimes four, days a week wearing a designer suit, along with a great tie and a starched shirt.
For some baby boomers, retirement is a dirty word
Sindya N. Bhanoo For months after Rick Lehrer sold his share of his insurance company to a business partner, he kept showing up at the office three, sometimes four, days a week wearing a designer suit, along with a great tie and a starched shirt. A baby boomer who was accustomed to long hours at the office, Lehrer, now 76, didn't - and still doesn't - like the word retired. "I was in denial," he said about his halfhearted attempt to retire in January 2019.
For some baby boomers, retirement is a dirty word
Business broker Marc Gudema poses for a portrait at his home in Delray Beach, Fla., on Feb. 21. Though Gudema did not have a specific timeline for retiring, he knew that it was always imminent. (Saul Martinez for The Washington Post) For months after Rick Lehrer sold his share of his insurance company to a business partner, he kept showing up at the office three, sometimes four, days a week wearing a designer suit, along with a great tie and a starched shirt.
A Rock Collection Only a Mother Could Love
Skip to content Introduction by Bret Anthony Johnston Share article Feb 23, 2022 Issue No 510 Written by Sindya Bhanoo Recommended by Bret Anthony Johnston Recently I’ve noticed that when I choose to quit reading a book, even a big and/or important book, my decision has nothing to do with the writer’s strengths or prose or depths of characterization. Instead, I turn away because of an increasing tendency toward meanness.
January 01, 2022: Volume XC, No 1
Subscribers have access to our full digital issues. Not a subscriber? Get access today. Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in. The Magazine: Kirkus Reviews Featuring 310 industry-first reviews of fiction, nonfiction, children's and YA books; also in this issue: Hilary Mantel discusses her bold new story collection, Learning To Talk; Erika L.
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere
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After a year of Zoom, students get ... more Zoom
Skip to content Illustration by Molly Oleson After watching students struggle with online learning this year and face serious mental health issues, a San Francisco high school counselor says that all educators must be more empathetic than ever before. Hélène Goupil is a former editor at Mission Local who now works independently as a videographer and editor. She's the co-author of "San Francisco: The Unknown City" (Arsenal Pulp Press).
Despite losing some hope, Abby holds on to her biggest dreams
Skip to content More than a year into the pandemic, Abby, 10, is growing up and has new perspectives on life. Hélène Goupil is a former editor at Mission Local who now works independently as a videographer and editor. She's the co-author of "San Francisco: The Unknown City" (Arsenal Pulp Press). More by Hélène Goupil Molly is a multimedia journalist, editor, photographer and illustrator. She has contributed to dozens of publications, and most recently, served as Editor of the Pacific Sun.
A pandemic story: Grandpa gets to know his granddaughter, eats kale, and refrains from Trump talk
Heidi Seretan, a special education teacher faced the challenge of working remotely this year while taking care of a young child. She leaned on family for help, and it brought unexpected joys. Hélène Goupil is a former editor at Mission Local who now works independently as a videographer and editor. She's the co-author of "San Francisco: The Unknown City" (Arsenal Pulp Press). More by Hélène Goupil
A life-changing email: During a difficult year, good news arrives
Illustration by Molly Oleson Derek Talbott, a high school senior who lives with his mother in a single-room-occupancy residential hotel in the Mission District, works more than 30 hours a week. In this second installment, he shares exciting news about his future, and tells us about the ongoing challenges he faces. Molly is a multimedia journalist, editor, photographer and illustrator. She has contributed to dozens of publications, and most recently, served as Editor of the Pacific Sun.
When faced with distance learning, Julien thrives
Illustration by ChiChai Julien Palafax is a 19-year-old student in San Francisco Unified School District’s program for students 18-22 with moderate to severe disabilities. In pre-pandemic times, Julien had anxiety about riding the school bus and had difficulty participating in classroom activities. In this interview, he and his teacher Heidi Seretan talk about how things are different now, and how, in some ways, Julien is thriving.
Lily's Story: Moving Forward
Illustration by Lily Larsen These graphic memoirs are part of Report Card, a Mission Local project supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Wallace House, where editor and reporter Sindya Bhanoo is a Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow. The project utilizes illustration and audio to highlight the unseen hurdles that students in underserved communities are facing this year. Lily is a high school student at City Arts and Tech High School in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood.
How the Digital Divide Is Failing Texas Students-And Why That Might be about to Change
For months, Gus Peters, a high school senior in the East Texas town of Jasper, went where the Wi-Fi was. Some days, he parked himself at the local coffee shop, Jasper Java, ordering a green tea frappé to appease whoever was working the register. Other times, he went to Elijah’s Cafe for a Trail Blazer, the diner’s signature dish of chopped steak smothered in gravy.
Public vs. Private: A Mother's Tale of Two Schools
Angelica has two children, a twelve-year-old daughter named Gracia and an eight-year-old son named Angelo. Gracia is a scholarship student at the Friends School in the Mission District while Angelo attends a public charter school. Angelica observes that there is a world of difference between what each child is experiencing this year. While her daughter has support, resources and regular meetings with teachers and tutors, her son is struggling, and calls for help have not been answered.
Who should translate Amanda Gorman's work?
Sat., April 03, 2021 UI offers diversity fellowship in its literary translation program but only one student has accepted Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks at the inauguration of President Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan.
Books | The Gazette
By Sindya Bhanoo, Washington Post Books Apr. 2, 2021 6:54 pm Aron Aji, a literary translator and professor at the University of Iowa, runs a Facebook group called Literary Translation with … Harrison Smith and Becky Krystal, the Washington Post Books Mar. 29, 2021 12:29 pm Beverly Cleary was a new librarian in Yakima, Wash., when, as she later recalled, ‘A little boy faced me rather … By Rob Cline, correspondent Books Mar.
Who should translate Amanda Gorman’s work? That question is ricocheting around the translation industry.
Aron Aji, a literary translator and professor at the University of Iowa, runs a Facebook group called Literary Translation with more than 4,300 members from 99 countries. For the most part, the group is an active, amiable one where linguaphiles help one another with translator minutia. A post, for instance, asking for the English equivalent of the French word “banlieusard” yielded 177 responses.
No time to complain: Art and work get this student through the pandemic
Illustration by Molly Oleson Derek, 18, is a senior at City Arts & Tech High School and lives in a residential hotel in San Francisco’s Mission District. He works more than 25 hours a week at a local deli and is currently the sole breadwinner for his family. He talks about work and school during the pandemic and his dream for a future where he has the time and space to pursue his love for the creative arts.
Life is unfair, but a pandemic rigs it doubly against low-income students
Omar Campos is a high school counselor at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco’s Sunset District. He has many students who commute from the Mission District and, as a Mission native himself, is deeply aware of the incredible challenges these students are facing due to the pandemic. This project was supported by the Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellowship and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Molly is a multimedia journalist, editor, photographer and illustrator.
In isolation, Abby dreams of space
This project was supported by the Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellowship and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Molly is a multimedia journalist, editor, photographer and illustrator. She has contributed to dozens of publications, and most recently, served as Editor of the Pacific Sun. To view more of her work,... More by Molly Oleson Hélène Goupil is a former editor at Mission Local who now works independently as a videographer and editor.
Bios - Mission Local
Sindya Bhanoo Reporter and Lead Project Editor Sindya is a Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow at the University of Michigan. She has worked as a reporter for The New York Times, where she was the longtime Observatory columnist and The Washington Post, where she is still a frequent contributor. Lydia Chavez Editor Lydia, a Mission resident since 1998, has worked at the New York Times on the business, foreign and city desks.
“You See So Much in Our Field You Wouldn’t Believe”: San Antonio School Bus Drivers Have Become Relief Workers
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Bobby Richardson pulls his school bus up to the curb in front of the little blue house on Avondale Avenue and honks his horn. On a chilly Friday morning in late October, as he waits for the Garcias to come outside, Richardson unbuckles himself from the driver’s seat and gets to work in the rear of bus number 461. A tall man with closely cropped hair, Richardson wears a maroon mask that matches his San Antonio ISD shirt.
Products That Are Earth-and-Profit Friendly (Published 2010)
June 11, 2010 As the world’s greatest soccer players take to the fields at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, many are wearing jerseys made almost entirely from plastic bottles rescued from landfills in Japan and Taiwan. It is, if nothing else, good publicity for Nike, the maker of the jerseys and the official sponsor of nine teams, including the United States, Brazil and Portugal.
Small Telescope Helps Make Big Discovery (Published 2012)
Science|Small Telescope Helps Make Big Discovery Observatory A drawing of KELT-1b, which is about 30 times the mass of Jupiter.Credit...Julie Turner/Vanderbilt University June 18, 2012 A small telescope, no bigger nor more powerful than a high-end digital camera, has helped researchers discover two new planets, both similar in makeup to the gas giant Jupiter. One, named KELT-2Ab, is unique because it is near a very bright star.
Kimberly Part 2: Returning to work in a pandemic
As told to Sindya Bhanoo, Illustrated by Lola Noguer Part 1:Kimberly: A young woman’s story of isolation in SF’s Mission District. This project is supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. If you would like to support reporting like this, please do so today.
Mission Local
Stories September 01, 2020 | Mission Local, Mission Covid Kimberly’s Story, Part II: Life in the Mission as the Pandemic Rages On Sindya Bhanoo and Lola Noguer Part two of Mission District resident Kimberly's pandemic experience in San Francisco, as told through a series of illustrations.
A King-Size Frog That Roamed With the Dinosaurs
Feb. 15, 2010 STONY BROOK, N.Y. Now appearing in the lobby of Stony Brook University Medical Center: a frog that lived in the era of the dinosaurs and is as big as a beach ball. Scientists believe it to be the largest frog ever. The immense frog is part of a permanent exhibition that also features reconstructions of a vegetarian pug-nosed crocodile and a small meat-eating dinosaur.
Kimberly: A young woman’s story of isolation in SF's Mission District
As told to Sindya Bhanoo, Illustrated by Lola Noguer This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. To support our ongoing coverage, please donate here.
The pandemic may drive some parents to opt for home schooling this fall, if they can afford it
All four of Uzma Jafri’s children will stay home this fall, even if the public schools they attend in Phoenix open their physical doors. Jafri, a doctor, and her husband, a pediatric dentist, do not think schools will be a safe environment during the pandemic, even if guidelines proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in place. “In August, for schools, it’s a petri dish when it’s not a pandemic,” Jafri said.
Retiring to a sunny foreign vacation spot was the American dream. Now the coronavirus is forcing some expats to come back.
When the borders between the United States and Mexico closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Hernán Drobny and Ann Barden, a retired couple from Michigan, swung into action. Drobny, a former physician, called trusted, local doctors in their retirement enclave of San Miguel and asked if they would provide care, should the couple come down with covid-19.
Retiring to a sunny foreign vacation spot was the American dream. Now the coronavirus is forcing some expats to come back.
When the borders between the United States and Mexico closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Hernán Drobny and Ann Barden, a retired couple from Michigan, swung into action. Drobny, a former physician, called trusted, local doctors in their retirement enclave of San Miguel and asked if they would provide care, should the couple come down with covid-19.
Perspective | When parents have to be social workers and therapists, too: How coronavirus is affecting foster families
Wendy Aldana is a foster mother to three teenagers and three children under the age of 7. Her Bakersfield, Calif., home thrives on structure. She believes in it firmly, especially for children who may suffer from stress and anxiety. In her kitchen, she has a large bulletin board with a daily schedule and a list of rotating household tasks. Aldana’s 15 years of experience as a preschool teacher have taught her how to work with young people, and she loves being a foster mother.
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