Landscapes of Writing

Bapsi Sidhwa is an international novelist, known for her perspective on the partition of the Indian subcontinent as a Parsi woman. The Crow Eaters (1980), Ice Candy Man (1982; published as Cracking India, 1988), The Pakistani Bride (1983), An American Brat (1993), and Water (2006) have been translated into several languages. Born in 1938 in Karachi, Sidhwa grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and now lives in Houston, Texas. She received a degree from Kinnaird College in Lahore and taught at Mount Holyoke College, Brandeis University, Columbia University, Rice University, and the University of Texas at Houston. Sidhwa was also a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe-Harvard and the recipient of numerous awards, such as the prestigious German prize LiBeraturepreis (1991); the Italian Premio Mondello for her novel Water (2007); and both the lifetime achievement award in Pakistan and the "Great Immigrants: The Pride of America" prize by the Carnegie Corporation in 2013.Teresa Russo is an educator, scholar, and poet. She is the editor of Recognition and Modes of Knowledge: Anagnorisis from Antiquity to Contemporary Theory (2013), examining how recognition theory has played a central role in the arts and humanities throughout history. She has a PhD from the University of Toronto in comparative literature and has taught courses in the arts and humanities at the Catholic University of America, American University, the University of Toronto, and Brock University. Her poetry has appeared in various publications, including The Silenus (Oxford, U.K.) and Verbi Gratia (Washington, D.C.).

• Foreword by Deepa Mehta – Author’s Preface – Editor’s Preface – Acknowledgements – Introduction: Bapsi Sidhwa’s Contributions to South Asian Literature – Part I. Life, Memories, and Writings – Why and How I Write – Linguistics: New English Creative Writing (A Pakistani Writer’s Perspective) – Lahore: Landscapes of My Writing – Reading and Writing: A Private Addiction – Truth and Fiction – The Television Boycott – Watching My Novel Become Deepa Mehta’s Film – Two-Way Culture Shock – A Puff of Air – Manna of the Angels: Parsi Cuisine – Journey to the Black Mountains – Part II. Political Thoughts: Essays on World Events – Letter to My Grandson – A Letter to The Hindustan Times: In Defense of Deepa Mehta’s Water – A Selective Memory for History – 2008 in Retrospect: The Most Momentous Year! – Crusades for the Modern Era – The Minorities and the Muse – Who Are the Taliban? – Threat of War Between India and Pakistan, Still a Reality – Bury the Hatchet for Peace Sake! – Appendix A – Appendix B – Index.

“Bapsi Sidhwa is a national treasure!”—Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways