Shilpa Agarwal, author of the highly praised debut novel Haunting Bombay, was kind enough to take a few moments to answer questions (via email) from Seattle Metblogs.

A native of Mumbai, Ms. Agarwal currently lives in Los Angeles. In addition to writing, Ms. Agarwal has taught at both UCLA and UCSB. Her areas of interest include the South Asian diaspora, and the politics and poetics of community. (source: http://shilpaagarwal.com/biography.htm)

Ms. Agarwal will be reading and signing at Elliott Bay Books this evening, at 7:30 PM.

*

Who or what are your primary literary influences?

My writing has been influenced [by] post-colonial writers who trace the impact of
colonialism on a culture or nation, and women writers who undrape the inner
workings of power and gender in a society. Primary influences include:

Nawal El Saadawi, who writes powerfully about women pushing up against the
rigid confines of Egyptian society.

Salman Rushdie, who weaves his stories together with mythology and history.

Toni Morrison, who also brings the weight of history and the past into her
writing but also incorporates supernatural elements (e.g., BELOVED).

Do you feel that there is a burgeoning Indian-American literary
movement, especially among women, or instead that American publishing is
becoming more open to Indian and Indian-American literature?

I think it’s both. Through my work in the South Asian artist community I
have definitely sensed more and more women wanting to share their stories,
whether through writing, drama, music, dance, film or visual arts. And with
American audiences being increasingly exposed to Indian culture, be it
through acclaimed novels such as WHITE TIGER or the Oscar-winning film
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the publishing industry is taking note of how South
Asian stories can captivate.

Could you provide some insight into Indian literary traditions?

There are two threads that I see in Indian literature. One is immigrant
stories in the US or other Diasporic communities, of the struggles of
immigrants to assimilate and at the same time preserve cultural traditions.
The other is stories set in South Asia that appeal to readers with an
interest in South Asian life, history and culture.

How has living between two cultures affected your work?

HAUNTING BOMBAY gives a vivid snapshot of 1960’s India but is also a ghost
story that draws in readers who enjoy supernatural themes and compelling
mysteries. Living between two cultures has made me very interested in
moments of crossing, whether East meets West, centers meet the peripheries,
or the living meet the dead.

Do you have other books in the pipeline, either finished or in
process? What may readers expect from you next?

I have been working on my second book for the past two years. Set in
contemporary India, the story includes supernatural and magical themes as
well as crossing the boundaries of heaven and earth.

*

We wish Ms. Agarwal success with her book tour. Thanks to Sarah Reidy of Soho Press for her assistance, and to Ms. Agarwal for taking the time to answer our questions.

What’s more awesome than a robot? Multiple robots, of course. And what’s even more awesome than that? That’s right–Robot Battles!!

Western Allied Robotics presents the 7th annual Seattle Bot Battles live and in person at the Seattle Center‘s Center House this Saturday, April 12, from 11 am to 6 pm. This FREE event features radio controlled robots from one to thirty pounds each competing against each other in a series of epic battles arranged in round robin and elimination round formats. Robots fight tough and their matches are great fun to watch. Highly recommended.

10:00 AM – African American Writers Alliance: Readings
NOVA
African-American Writers’ Alliance will read on Black History and the Black Experience.
[LINK]

10:00 AM – Carmela & Steve D’Amico: Ella the Elegant Elephant
Barnes & Noble, University Village
Youth Playday storytime. Personally, I think the hat is divine.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Dan Hinkley: “From Sechuan to Seattle: Dan Hinkley’s Plant Collection Trip to China and Vietnam”
UW, Tower Auditorium, $7-15
Celebrate Washington Park Arboretum’s 75th anniversary with a lecture and slideshow. Almost as much fun as your in-law’s vacation photos. Okay, I take that back, it’s probably way more fun than your in-laws.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – David Suzuki: The Big Picture: Reflections on Science, Humanity, and a Quickly Changing Planet
Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall, $10
“Addressing suburban sprawl, sustainable transportation, food shortages, biodiversity, technology, public policy, and more, Suzuki helps set a course to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century.” Also, he’s brilliant.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Mark Pendergrast: Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
UW, Kane Hall
“First in a series of lectures hosted by the UW Alumni Association entitled “Coffee: From the Grounds Up” which will look at the way coffee has dominated and shaped entire cultures. Pendergrast starts things off by talking about his definitive history of the enthusiasm-promoting beverage from 1999.”
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Shilpa Agarwal: Haunting Bombay
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Agarwal will read and sign her spooky debut novel about the ghost of a drowned child.
[LINK]

Friday night, April 10, at the The Moore you have an excellent opportunity to hop into the wayback machine and check out two of the most important and enjoyable bands of the early 1960s: The Ventures and the Wailers

One of the most popular and prolific bands of the 1960s, The Ventures first came to wide reknown in 1960 when their hit single “Walk, Don’t Run” made it all the way up the charts to #2. Over fifty years after their founding in 1958, The Ventures are still going strong. Best known as pioneers of surf music, The Ventures aren’t just a surf band (not that there’s anything wrong with being just a surf band!) but a genuinly creative instrumental rock band of dedicated musicians who last year were deservedly inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

If you don’t know The Wailers, you don’t know your NW music history. Like The Ventures, The Wailers were formed in 1958. Sometimes called “the first garage rock band”, the Wailers became the pride of Tacoma, where they were founded, and an impossible to quantify influence on all the rock bands from the Northwest who would follow them, from the Kingsmen to the Sonics, Paul Revere & the Raiders and the thousands of bands that followed them.. Their first hit single, “Tall Cool One”, hit the national charts, peaking at #36, in 1959 while the band members were still in high school. After playing both the Alan Freed Show and American Bandstand, the Wailers came back to the Northwest where they remained a huge focal point of the local music scene for years to come.

Unlike so many acts that go on the “Hey, didn’t you used to be…?” nostalgia circuit, both the Ventures and the Wailers remain exciting bands whose performances are equally fun for the folks who were around to see them from the get go and their grandkids and great-grandkids of today. Seattle Metblogs is giving you a chance to check this out for yourself: E-mail your name and contact information no later than noon Wednesday, April 8, to win a pair of tickets to the show to: seattle.metblogs@gmail.com

There’s construction on our Washington roads all year as needed, but this is the time of year when the major projects get done due to the improvement of the weather conditions.

Since I don’t drive, knowing which roads are going to be shut down for a hour, a day, a weekend, or maybe even longer, isn’t a huge priority for me–as long as the bus driver knows where to go, it’s all good for me. But if you’re a driver, being able to know in advance what’s going on out there on the roads is a major benefit.

The WDOT has made it super easy for you to be prepared for road closures and/or construction delays: just visit their 2009 Construction Season page and select by highway or special event to see what construction jobs are in the pipeline. For example, there are a ton of projects that will shut down various lanes on I5 for a short amount of time this week and a bridge inspection will close down the left lane of SR 18 at the Green Rive from eight a.m. to noon tomorrow. I-90 is one of my least favorite roads in Washington state, but I’m glad to hear that there’s a Seismic Retrofit going in to make it safer: commuters are probably glad to know that they’re doing this Thursday night from 10 pm to 5 am.

If you’re out on the road and want to know what’s going on, dial 511 from your mobile phone.

And for the sake of all that’s good and right, please slow down as you approach workers on the road, keep alert, and don’t hit any of them.

11:30 AM – Bob Schieffer & Helen Thomas, with Kathi Goertzen: “Past, Present and Future: A Conversation”
Sheraton Hotel, $45-75
If you’ve got the dosh, why not see two giants of journalism receive the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award and talk about their work, while eating an overpriced “luncheon”. They have over a century of media experience between the two of them, I do believe. Kathy Goertzen will be on hand to moderate the conversation, i.e. squee like a crazy fangirl. Don’t expect much from the food.
[LINK

7:30 PM - Alva Noe: Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness
Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs, $5
Rather than “I think, therefore I am,” Noë prefers “I am, therefore I think.” How profound.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Phillis Levin: May Day
Elliott Bay Book Co.

I’ve decided to waste my life again,
Like I used to: get drunk
On the light in the leaves, find a wall
Against which something can happen

[LINK]

8:00 PM – NorthEndForum: Poetry Reading
Bai Pai Lounge
Open mike poetry and music, and all night happy hour prices on drinks. Because writers drink. A lot. Also, they tend to be strapped for cash. Frankly, this is kinda brilliant.
[LINK]

There will be a free informational seminar on wills and trusts at the Ballard Public Library on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.  The Ballard Public Library is located at 5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle 98107.  The seminar will be given by Mindy Terence and Thomas Terence of Terence and Terence L.L.C., a general practice law office located in Ballard.  For questions, please call 206-420-5514.

7:00 PM – Red Sky Poetry Theater reunion: Poetry Reading
Richard Hugo House, Cabaret

Portland poet Dan Raphael has performed his work thoughout the Northwest, including Wordstock, Bumbershoot, Powell’s Books, Walla Walla Poetry Party, and the Burning Word. Current poems appear in Clackamas Literary Review, Pemmicna, Urvox, Semantikon and Red Sky Morning. During the day, Dan works at the Lake Oswego DMV.

David Abel, co-curator of the Spare Room reading series, is a poet, editor, bookseller, raga singer, and poker player who moved to Portland in 1997 after stints in New York and Albuquerque.

[LINK]

Ivar’s has declined to sponsor the fireworks show after a 44-year run, citing competition from other shows. Will another company pick up the show? Stay tuned.

10:00 AM – Emerald City Comicon: Washington State Convention and Trade Center
Do I really need to explain this?
[LINK]

12:00 PM – Vicki Delany: Valley of the Lost
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Second in a series set in a small BC town. Constable Molly Smith and Sargeant John Winters are puzzled by a corpse and an infant.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – Finishing Line Press: Poetry Reading
Elliott Bay Book Co.
A quartet of local poets published by Finishing Line Press features Jane Alynn, Elizabeth Aoki, Lana Hechtman Ayers, and Julene Tripp Weaver.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – La Jefa: Cultural Collisions: Women Poets & Their Craft
Richard Hugo House, Cabaret
Four Seattle women writers–JT Stewart, Pesha Gertler, Felicia Gonzalez and Jourdan Keith–who collectively represent at least 16 cultures, will present an interactive audience panel and a reading of their work.
[LINK]

4:00 PM – Reader’s Choice of Poetry, Prose, or Public: Poetry Reading
SPL Greenlake Branch Library
Chris Jarmick, Cathy Ross. Open mike. MC J. Glenn Evans.
[LINK]

4:30 PM – Stuart Brown, MD: Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
Elliott Bay Book Co.
The Founder of the National Institute for Play visits Seattle and confronts the challenge of a lifetime.
[LINK]

6:00 PM – Jaime Hernandez & Stan Sakai: Art Opening & Book Signing
Fantagraphics Bookstore
The artists behind Love & Rockets (Hernandez) and Usagi Yojimbo (Sakai) sign. Special Guest: Paul Hornschemeier
[LINK]

7:30 PM – William Dietrich: The Dakota Cipher
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Third in a historical mystery series. Ethan Gage sets out to find Thor’s Hammer and/or a tribe of Caucasion native Americans.
[LINK]