EDUCATION
2018: VONA fellow, memoir workshop with Bich Minh Nguyen
2017: PhD, English & creative writing, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
2010: MA, English & creative writing, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
2004: BA, individualized study, New York University
2003: Summer, political science & language, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
2000: Summer, screenwriting, University of Southern California
1999: Summer, creative writing, University of Cambridge
AWARDS / CONTESTS / SCHOLARSHIPS
2020: Disquiet Literary Contest (long list), The Writer magazine’s Essay Contest (finalist), Blue Earth Review’s Flash Creative Nonfiction Prize (runner up)
2019: StoryQuarterly’s Fourth Annual Nonfiction Prize (first runner-up), 2040 Books James Alan McPherson Award (finalist), Autumn House Nonfiction Contest (finalist), C&R Book’s Awards for CNF/Memoir (short list)
2017: 2017-2018 COG Page to Screen Award (winner)
2014: J. Watumull Scholarship for the Study of India
2014: John Young Scholarship in the Arts
2013–2014: Jagdish P. Sharma Memorial Scholarship
2010: Myrle Clark Award for Creative Writing
READINGS / EVENTS / PRESENTATIONS
- December 2020: Guest reading from Enter the Navelwith Susan Clark’s Joy of Reading course, Punahou School
- December 2020: Enter the Navel Reading & Launch Party, with special guest readers Hari Alluri & Neelanjana Banerjee, hosted by Rajiv Mohabir
- November 2020: A Reading & Craft Talk on Creative Nonfiction with Anjoli Roy, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Words@Mānoa Series
- November 2020: Reading from Enter the Navel and discussion, Stephanie Han’s Women’s Creative Writing Workshop
- October 2020: “Exploring Hawaiʻi’s Literary Landscape,” Bamboo Ridge’s Virtual Writers Institute
- October 2020, “Growing Magic in the Sidewalk: Podcasts and Community in Hawaiʻi,” Moʻolelo Matters interview
- March 2020: “In Defense of Navel-Gazing: For the Love of Creative Nonfiction,” Pushing Past Page 70: Reaching Creative Nonfiction Readers, Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), San Antonio
- March 2020: “Beyond the Page: Podcasting to Reach New Audiences,” To Boldly Go: Unconventional Publishing Opportunities from Radio and Beyond, Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), San Antonio
- October 2019: “Beyond the Page: Podcasting and Body Transformations to Reach New Audiences” (workshop co-lead with Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng), Words@Mānoa, Honolulu
- October 2019: “Grandpa Was a Skin Diver,” Mixing Innovative Arts Tenth Anniversary Reading, Honolulu
- August 2019: It’s Lit M.I.A Takeover (cohosted with Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng), Honolulu
- May 2019: “Deep Research for World-Building in Narrative Nonfiction: Writing Workshop and Q&A with Author Gilbert King” (interviewer moderator), Hawaiʻi Book and Music Festival, Honolulu
- March 2019: “What Waits on Beadon Street,” True Story: Revolutionary Creative Nonfiction, Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), Portland
- November 2018: “Little Red BMW,” Every Voice Matters: Poetry, Prose, and Inclusion, Honolulu
- March 2018: It’s Lit M.I.A. Takeover (cohosted with Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng), Honolulu
- March 2018: “What Waits on Beadon Street: Fighting Diaspora’s Erasing Impulses,” Roundtable on South Asian American, Association of Asian American Studies, San Francisco (paper accepted)
- April 2017: Kundiman reading, Mixing Innovative Arts, Honolulu
- April 2016: “What Waits at Beadon Street,” Crossing Genres, Crossing Seas: Writing the South Asian Diaspora, Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), Los Angeles
- August 2016: “This Part of the Body” and “Un-love Letter,” Mixing Innovative Arts Seventh Anniversary Reading, Honolulu
- May 2016: “Love Letter to Kurseong,” The 2016 Ian MacMillan Writing Awards, Honolulu
- April 2015: “Where the Water Is” (excerpt) & “From Bani Roy’s Recipes for Excellent Bengali Meals,” Mana Wahine Reading, Honolulu
- April 2015: “In Bones We Carry” (with Donovan Kūhiō Colleps; unpublished) & “When the Mouth Closes,” Decolonial Solidarities, Honolulu
- April 2015: “How We Define Our Stories, How Our Stories Define Us: A Pre-1965 India-to-U.S. Immigration Story,” Decolonial Futures in South Asia and Beyond, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Center for South Asian Studies, 32nd Annual Symposium, Honolulu
- February 2014: “Finding Family in the Archives: Storytelling in Delhi, Kurseong, and Kolkata,” cosponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies and the Center for Biographical Research, Honolulu
- August 2014: “Where the Water Is” (excerpt), Mixing Innovative Arts, Honolulu
February 2014: “Stroke” and “The Last Thing Left,” The New Oceania Literary Series featuring Sudesh Mishra, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu - October 2013: “Eat the Garden,” A Pacific Poetry Feast, Kokua Market, Honolulu
- September 2013: “Clamoring for Whiteness or Struggling for Survival?: A Pre-1965 India-to-US Immigration Story,” Second Annual Asians in the Americas Symposium, Pepperdine University, Malibu
- May 2013: BYOW: Build Your Own Workshop, Mixing Innovative Arts, Mixing Innovative Arts, Honolulu
- April 2011: “Told You So,” M.I.A. Art & Literary Series, Fresh Cafe, Honolulu
- April 2010: “What Babas Are For,” Fathers’ Day: Readings in Creative Writing, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu
- October 2009: “Walls,” The Mānoa Experience, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu
- 2003: “Reconcile,” INI, New York City
- 2001: “Reconcile,” Da Poetry Lounge, Los Angeles
TEACHING
- August 2018–Present: English Teacher, Punahou Academy, Honolulu
- Courses taught:
- English 2: Sophomore English
- English 2: Visual Storytelling (Interdisciplinary Studio Art and Sophomore English)
- English 3: American Literature–Dream and Disillusion
- English 3/4: Magical Realism
- English 3/4: Writing with Clarity and Grace (Creative Nonfiction and Composition)
- Courses to be taught spring 2021: English 3/4: Identity and Culture, English 3/4 Science and Storytelling
- Courses taught:
- August 2012–August 2016: Instructor, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu
- Courses taught:
- ENG 100: Composition
- ENG 200: Advanced Composition
- ENG 273: Introduction to Fiction
- ENG 273: Introduction to Memoir
- ENG 311: Autobiographical Writing–Memoir
- ENG 313: Types of Creative Writing: Truth and Lies in Storytelling–Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
- Courses taught:
- September 2013–July 2016: Memoir Instructor, Kāhala Nui Continuing Care Retirement Community, Honolulu
- January 2011–May 2012: Lecturer, St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn
- Courses taught:
- Community Health and Human Services 403: Liberal Arts
- General Studies 402: Critical Thinking for Professionals
- Courses taught:
- December 2010–February 2011: Tutor, Champion Learning Center, New York City
- September 2008–May 2010: Teaching Assistant/Graduate Assistant/Mentor, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu
- September 2008–May 2009: Tutor, Juku Tutorial Institute, Honolulu
- January–June 2006: Aide to Instructor, The Mercy Center, The Bronx
EDITING / WRITING
- August 2016–August 2018: Managing Editor, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, The Center for Biographical Research, Honolulu
- May 2013–May 2015: Editor in Chief, Hawai‘i Review, Honolulu
- May 2009–May 2011: General Editor, Vice-Versa, Honolulu
- February 2011–July 2012: Grants Coordinator, GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, New York City
- March–April 2011: Copy Editor, ICAP: International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs, New York City
- October 2008–May 2010: Editor, Kahuaomānoa Press, Honolulu
August 2009–May 2010: Grace K.J. Abernethy Apprentice, Mānoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, Honolulu - October 2009–May 2010: Copy Editor, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Honolulu
- November 2008–August 2009: Editor, The Center on the Family, Honolulu
- January 2005–August 2008: Associate Editor, The Feminist Press at CUNY, New York City
- September 2005–August 2008: Managing Editor, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, New York City
OTHER
- November 2016–Present: Podcast/Radio Cohost, It’s Lit with PhDJ, Honolulu
- November 2012–July 2013: Student Coordinator, Words in the World Symposium, Honolulu
- September 2012: Volunteer Coordinator, Audre Lorde Legacy Festival, Honolulu
- May–November 2004: Assistant Organizer, Global Women’s Gathering, Phoenicia
- May–November 2004: Coproducer, Mariposa Film, New York City
- May–August 2002: Reporter, Core Media Group/Sierra Madre Weekly, Sierra Madre
