The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories

Guest Post by Aparna Kaji Shah

There is no single story about a place or a people. The well-known novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has called it “The danger of the single story” because it is dangerous when we show the same thing about someone again and again; they become that, and all other possibilities are excluded. This is especially relevant in today’s climate, both political as well as social.

Aparna Kaji Shah

 In my collection, “The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories” the female protagonists have different stories to tell. They range from a fifteen-year-old girl from Jaisalmer, in eighteenth-century India, who runs away with the nomadic tribes, to a middle-aged woman in modern-day Mumbai. 

There is also the character of a grandmother in Toronto dealing with old age and disease; of a village bride who moves to Mumbai, expecting the City of Dreams to fulfill her every wish, and of a young mother in pre-independence India on her death-bed reliving the molestation by her father-in-law and fearing for her daughters after her death.

The title story, “The Scent of Mogra”, is narrated by a dead woman who is reminiscing about her life on Earth and about her daughter who she somehow knows is suffering. These are stories not just about women’s oppression and exploitation in a male-dominated society, but of resilience, passion, and triumph. The varied female protagonists, in their different time periods, go through the turmoil that is life-changing and that creates within each one an inner strength and a determination to move on. These women come into their own as life unfolds around them.

I am delighted to announce that “The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories” will be published this September by Inanna Publications. When I started writing these stories, some written in Toronto, and others in Mumbai while we were living there, I never gave a thought to having them published; I was so enjoying the creative process and the writing. But friends and family urged me to submit, and I did. I was very fortunate to be accepted by Inanna.

One of the themes that link the stories in this collection, women’s lives within a patriarchal structure, is close to my heart. But the writing of the stories took me outside of myself in a way that let me see the larger picture of women’s existence over the centuries; it gave me a deep appreciation of the unique texture of individual lives and relationships.

The stories will resonate with all readers, men and women, young and old, as they are drawn into the lives of the characters. The women who inhabit the stories inhabit the real world, and we all know someone like them. “The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories” will not only remind readers about the many issues that women face across generations and cultures but help cast a fresh eye upon them.

I hope that like all art that moves readers, viewers or listeners in its many mysterious ways, my stories will find a way to engage my reader’s heart, her imagination and intellect and provide the keen enjoyment that we all go to books for. Finally, my wish is that this collection will help someone feel less alone in the world.

I am excited about the launch of my book on September 28th, sponsored by The International Festival of Authors (Toronto Lit Up) and Inanna Publications, at Ben McNally Books in Toronto. I will read from my stories and sign books from 6 to 8 pm. I look forward to seeing many of you there. 

In case you would like to pre-order “The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories”, it is available on Amazon Canada, the US and the UK. It can also be pre-ordered from Indigo. You can follow me on Twitter @akajishah  and on Facebook at Aparna Kaji Shah.

IFOA-Markham

Markham Arts Council's second annual
International Festival of Authors
Tuesday October 23, 2012.

The City of Markham in partnership with the Markham Arts Council is pleased to present the second annual International Festival ofAuthors (IFOA Markham) Touring Event on Tuesday October 23, 2012, inside the beautiful Flato Markham Theatre.

Last year Markham’s first ever IFOA event presented four world renowned authors to a sold out audience for an evening of wine, world cuisine and literary readings along with an audience Q&A with TVO personality, Thom Ernst.

On Tuesday October 23, 2012, Mayor Frank Scarpitti will be hosting the “Mayor’s Hour: World and Wine Cuisine” reception, welcoming this year’s headlining author and past recipient of the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize–Dr. Vincent Lam, along with international world renowned authors: Marjorie Celona,  Ayesha Chatterjee and Chan Koonchung.

This year the Mayor’s Hour held in the lobby of FlatoMarkham Theatre will include authors meet-and-greet, an exciting visual arts exhibit and performances by award winning YorkSlam performers. The reception will be followed by Author Readings and Q & A.

Tickets for “The Mayor’s Hour: World and Wine Cuisine” are $65.00 (reception begins at 6pm)

Tickets for Author Readings and Q & A only are $18.00 (readings begin at 7:15pm)

Authors:

Marjorie Celona

Marjorie Celona (Canada) was born and raised in Victoria, B.C. and lives in Cincinnati. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the Ailene Barger Barnes Prize. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harvard Review, Glimmer Train and Crazyhorse. Celona’s debut novel, Y, tells the unforgettable story of a newborn baby dropped on a YMCA doorstep, and that of her mother, who is just a girl herself.

Ayesha Chatterjee

Born and raised in Kolkata, Ayesha Chatterjee (India) has lived in England, the USA and Germany, and currently resides in Toronto. Her work gained notice when one of her poems was shortlisted in the Guardian Unlimited Poetry Workshop in October 2004. Her poetry has appeared innthposition, Autumn Sky Poetry and BluSlate. In 2010, she read at the Poetry with Prakriti Festival in Chennai, India. Her first poetry collection,The Clarity of Distance, is a meditation on the complexity of existence and the search for moments of truth within it.

Chan Koonchung

Chan Koonchung (Canada/Hong Kong) is a novelist, journalist and screenwriter. Born in Shanghai and raised and educated in Hong Kong, he studied at the University of Hong Kong and Boston University. He has published more than a dozen Chinese-language books and in 1976 founded the magazine City, of which he was the chief editor and then publisher for 23 years. He has been a producer on more than 13 films. Banned in China, Koonchung’s politically charged novel The Fat Years tells the story of the search for an entire month erased from official Chinese history.

Vincent Lam

Physician and author Vincent Lam (Canada) is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam, and was born in Canada. He is a lecturer with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and has worked in international air evacuation and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships. Lam’s first book, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and has recently been adapted for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. Lam’s  The Headmaster’s Wadger tells the story of Percival, a gambling, womanizing, corrupt headmaster at a prestigious English school in Saigon.

Tickets:

To purchase tickets, call the Markham Arts Council at 905-947-9054 or Flato Markham Theatre at 905-305-SHOW (7469)

Generally About Books is IFOA-Markham's community partner