Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Blog
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May.14.2013
I'm a Goodreads Featured Author on Wednesday, May 15, a big honor. I've been asked to do a Goodreads chat on their site that day. The chat will go on all day. I'll be checking in throughout the day.
I love connecting to readers and friends through author chats. I've done a few on my FB page,...
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May.11.2013
These are some photos of places where I read from Oleander Girl, my new novel, and Grandma and the Great Gourd, my children's book.
At Asia Society Texas, in Houston, the national launch, on-stage interview with St. John Flynn of KUHF.
At Google, with Regina Sawhney, who invited me to present...
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May.06.2013
Mother's Day, coming up soon, reminds me of how important my mother, who pretty much brought us up as a single parent, has been in my life. Perhaps the many mothers that I depict in my books--though they have little similarity to the biographical facts of her life-- are my attempt to understand...
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May.24.2012
When I lived in India, I disliked bitter gourd with a passion. I thought it an unnatural, dangerous, distasteful vegetable, with its ridged skin not unlike the hides of alligators, its large, hard seeds that cracked and lodged between your teeth, and its acrid bitterness that remained in your mouth...
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May.09.2012
One of my favorite methods of creating characters is the use of voice--how a particular character speaks or thinks. Before I begin writing, I try to hear the character in my head. If I'm lucky, I'll come up with a memorable sentence right away (even if ultimately that doesn't appear in the...
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Aug.07.2011
In my novel Sister of My Heart, when Anju and Sudha, the two cousins who are the protagonists of the book, are still little, their aunt, Pishi, cooks several special desserts for them. This one, payesh, is very traditional in Bengal, the part of India where I come from and where Sister of My...
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Aug.07.2011
A while ago, a reader on my Facebook Author Page asked how one goes about creating effective characters. Here are some thoughts--and a few examples from books I've enjoyed.
1. The character should be dynamic and driven by a strong passion. So it's a good idea to give the character a powerful...
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Aug.03.2011
Friends who write poetry asked if I had a recommendation for them, and I do.
An excellent craft & ideas book for poets is The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux. They are both wonderful poets themselves.
I also recommend reading...
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Aug.03.2011
Friends sometimes ask me to recommend books on Creative Writing to them. Below are 2 favorites--I like them for different reasons.
1. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Pantheon Books.
This is a more general book, accessible to beginners, very personal, with many anecdotes from Lamott's life. It's...
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Aug.02.2011
Friends,
Many of you have been discussing my novel Sister of My Heart on my Facebook page, and also telling me that you want more recipes, so I thought I'd combine them in this post! Additionally, it's a tribute to my mother, who passed away in 2010.
Do let me know if you like it, & if you...
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Aug.02.2011
I was feeling creative the other day and put together the following dish. The family gave it a thumbs up, so I thought I would share it with you. It's pretty quick & easy, which is the kind of recipe I like.
Stem & core 6 large green peppers. Rub salt & oil on them, outside and...
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Aug.02.2011
This is an amazing festival, quite unlike any of the others I have ever been invited to participate in, in India or any other country. My friend Pico Iyer who had been there before told me it would be chaotic, vibrant, effervescent and memorable--and it was all of those things. It made me...
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Nov.27.2010
I wasn't familiar with Thanksgiving until I arrived in the United States from India. I loved the concept of it right away: expressing gratitude and appreciation. But it took me a while to get used to the food that was traditionally served during this very American holiday -- at least in Ohio,...
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May.13.2010
Here is a recipe, to remember my mother (who recently passed away). Though I am vegetarian now, I remember how delicious it was when I ate it as a child. This is a relatively mild version of what we ate. Adventurous readers can increase the amount of spices.
Cut into pieces 2 lb boneless...
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May.05.2010
Since my novel One Amazing Thing was published a couple of months ago, I've been doing a lot of interviews. At some point, interviewers usually ask me about my use of social media--my blog, my twitter account, my Facebook author page. I cringe, because I know what's coming next. "You haven'...
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About Chitra
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works...
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