Storytellers of our times – TBF 2018

This year at the Texas Book Festival I was able to attend some if not all the panel discussions I was especially keen on. What got me excited was the diverse list of authors – women, authors of color and from disparate backgrounds with a cornucopia of offerings of what have you to read. Key among them for me were Celeste Ng, Fatima Farheen Mirza, Sandra Cisneros, Tommy Orange, Marie Mailhot, Tayari Jones, Sayu Bhojwani, Francis Fukuyama, Soman Chainani, Shoba Rao, Chaya Bhubaneswar, Nisha Sharma, Sandhya Menon and so many more.

I only got to attend a few but noticed the common thread of topics that kept coming up in most of the discussions irrespective of the genre, interestingly the topics pertained to the authors’ voice and what he/she represented. Was it their duty to speak for the section of society they belonged to? Was it an individual’s voice with their unique story? Was it fair to expect them to carry the voice of an entire community?  How far did they go into explaining the subtle nuances of their culture, words, phrases, food, philosophy, customs etc? Would a writer in the Victorian age be asked such a question – to explain to all what their customs are? What is offensive to the writers? What do the writers expect from their readers? Is the onus on the writers and/or readers to encourage more diverse literature? These topics led to a rich texture of conversations that kept coming back to our diversity, what is changing and what we make of it in the literary world.

Celeste Ng and Fatima Farheen Mirza spoke about how they loved all their characters – the ones perceived good, bad and ugly. Celeste went on to question the notion of bad. She reckoned the ones that are perceived bad may not think so about themselves. They spoke about the complex dynamics of family, trust, and love and how much each – circumstances vs personality impact the outcome of a life.

I had a few noteworthy incidents at the festival. We were taking the elevator down to see Tommy Orange and barely caught it in time. I asked my friend who the other author was and she said I’m not sure, the book is called ‘something heart full of berries something’ she said. The lady in the elevator added ‘heartberries’ helpfully. Oh, I never heard of it I said. We got good seats in the very front of the small room and much to our horror the lady in the elevator sat behind the nameplate ‘Terese Marie Mailhot’ the author of ‘Heartberries’ We cringed but went and apologized to her later for our ignorance. She was gracious and said not to worry and that it was actually funny.

Interestingly Terese and Tommy went to the same IFA program and finished or released their books within a week of each other. Tommy was funny, unflinchingly honest with a sincerity that makes you like him even more. Terese was eloquent, assertive and elegant and by the end of the talk, I wanted to read her story as well.

After watching the legendary Sandra Cisneros and her translator companion Lillian I had to rush to our tent to do the SAAM Diwali children’s activity. And so by the time, I could get to the tent she was already gone. I was disappointed but there to the side was Lilliana standing with someone. I had a lovely hearty conversation with her and she signed and wrote me a wonderful message to write as the world needs more voices of women of color. I feel like it was extra special to have her sign in it.

Another memorable moment was when I was holding the book ‘dancing white elephants’  by Chaya Bhubaneswar wishing I could have seen her speak and a lady tapped me on the shoulder and said oh you must get that. I smiled and said I was going to, to which she asked if I’d like it signed! Once again I was flummoxed and ecstatic. She was on her way to the signing tent and ‘caught me in the act’ she explained to her guide ‘so I figured I might as well sign it’ she chirped cheerfully. We chatted about how she juggled her career as a physician while still managing to be a writer. It was certainly serendipitous.

There were so many other writers who I wanted to hear but I’m at least glad I got to meet them and was fortunate enough to chat briefly. Alexander Chee was as charming as I imagined he’d be. He wrote the sweetest message when I told him about my struggles to find the time. He wrote, “when you stop and think you can’t, open this and read-me telling you to keep on writing” 🙂

I also had the chance to sit through a couple of the C-SPAN tent sessions. One by Mr. Fukuyama, a political scientist who spoke about his book ‘Identity: The demand for dignity and the politics of resentment’ which talks about race, identity and its relation to the economy, governance, and politics. The other discourse I came upon was by Randy Shaw who spoke about Tech and its impacts on lives, cities, displaced neighborhoods, economic inequality in his book ‘Generation Priced out: who gets to live in the new Urban America’ He talks about where San Francisco is and how he believes Austin is at the crossroads and hence we should pay special attention to city codes and policies governing urbanization and growth so as not to price out the working class and middle America. It is heartening to see the number of people, the youth in particular that attended these sessions and participated by asking questions.

There was a lot to be grateful for. What did, however, stand out like a sore thumb was the lack of a diverse audience. This incredibly thoughtful diverse group of authors, especially the South Asian diaspora were talking about their experiences to an almost, if not completely Caucasian audience. This is a good thing, the interest, and the numbers but what is disappointing is the dismal number of South Asians that turn up to these events. We must do more as part of our outreach to improve these numbers. Because at the end of a day, if the very voices whose stories are being told are not there to listen, to learn and connect then it is a real tragedy and loss to us readers. Quoting someone in one of the sessions who mentioned the notion – if a tree falls and no one heard it fall – did it really fall?