Episode 203 with V.V. (Sugi) Ganeshananthan, Master Craftswoman of Tender and Gutting Storylines and Characters, and Author of the Modern Classic, Brotherless Night

Notes and Links to VV Ganeshananthan’s Work

 

   For Episode 203, Pete welcomes VV Ganeshananthan, and the two discuss, among other topics, her early reading and writing and the ways in which Tamil has influenced her English writing, formative and transformative writing and writers, the ways in which her podcasting influences her writing and vice versa, the writing that resonates with her college students, and the towering achievement that is Brotherless Night-background and seeds for the book, cultural subtleties and nuances featured in the book, the complicated ways in which various groups interacted in the Sri Lankan conflicts, writing tenderness into such darkness, and the ways in which the storyline affected VV emotionally.

 

   V. V. Ganeshananthan (she/her) is the author of the novels Brotherless Night, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and Love Marriage, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications.

   A former vice president of the South Asian Journalists Association, she has also served on the board of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and is presently a member of the boards of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies and the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. The National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, Yaddo, MacDowell, and the American Academy in Berlin have awarded her fellowships. She has served as visiting faculty at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan and at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota, where she is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and associate professor of English. She co-hosts the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast on Literary Hub, which is about the intersection of literature and the news.

 

 

VV's Website

 

Buy Brotherless Night

 

"Terrorist to Whom"-New York Times Review of Brotherless Night

 

Listen to the fiction/non/fiction Podcast

 

 

At about 3:00, VV discusses her busy and productive schedule 

 

At about 4:00, VV responds to Pete wondering about her early relationship with language

 

At about 5:20, VV reflects on Brotherless Night  bering referred to as having a Tamil feel, and expands on how the language of Tamil may figure in to her English 

 

At about 8:15, VV speaks about early reading and literary influences

 

At about 10:30, Pete gives a pop spelling quiz 

 

At about 11:15, VV discusses formative writers and works that put her on the path to becoming a writer, as well as an unforgettable visit from Gregory Maguire

 

At about 14:00, VV talks about the secret clubs she wasn’t (allegedly) part of at Harvard

 

At about 15:15, VV outlines the ethic and style of the podcast she cohosts with Whitney Terrell

 

At about 17:30, VV talks about the writers and writing that resonates with her college students, including the work of Carmen Maria Machado and Yiyun Li

 

At about 19:45, VV responds to Pete’s question about working on Brotherless Night for 20 years (?!), and she shares seeds for the book, including a class with Ethan Canin

 

At about 22:30, VV describes the emotional impact the book had on her

 

At about 24:00, Pete runneth over with compliments for the novel

 

At about 24:55, Pete speaks on the book’s Prologue and highlights meaningful lines at the beginning

 

At about 26:15-29:45, Pete wonders about the usage of only an initial for a main character, K, and VV gives some insight

 

At about 29:45, VV describes the ways in which Sasha looks at K

 

At about 32:15, The two discuss the town of Jaffna and ist makeup and early scenes involving a pivotal political rally

 

At about 34:20, VV gives background on Jaffna, how political Sashi’s family was and why she decided to set the novel there 

 

At about 37:30, VV responds to Pete’s questions about how much colonialism’s shadow and aftereffects play in to the book’s events and traumas 

 

At about 39:40, VV speaks about Indian forces and their role in the Sri Lanka

 

At about 41:00, VV reflects on the ways in which she was prompted to include rare, but meaningful, direct address in the book

 

At about 46:30, Pete tiptoes around plot spoilers while he and VV discuss a pivotal death in the book and the resulting action, or lack thereof, by Sashi’s father 

 

At about 49:00, The two discuss aftereffects of the pivotal death and ideas of empathy, sympathy, and judgment for the actions of those involved in the conflicts 

 

At about 50:35, VV responds to Pete’s questions about the ways in which she presented a multifaceted view of the complicated conflict in Sri Lanka

 

At about 54:15, Pete remarks on the book’s tenderness in the midst 

 

At about 55:55, Pete cites a right-on blurb from Brit Bennett

 

At about 56:10, VV shouts out Magers & Quinn as one of many places to buy the book

 

At about 57:10, VV shares future exciting projects and shouts out Julie Schumacher and Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield

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   Please tune in for Episode 204 with Kara HL Chen. Kara has undergraduate degrees in English and economics, a J.D., and a MFA in fiction. Love and Resistance, published in July 2023, is her YA debut.

   The episode will air on September 19.