The Indianness

Geeta Kohli is a writer, poet, and professor of law. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Granta, New England Review, The Southern Review, and Epiphany Magazine.

"The Indianness is a rich, nuanced exploration of the ness-the liminality, the joys and disappointments, the clarity and confusion-of being Indian in America. In these twelve short stories, Geeta Kohli is a keen observer, a confident writer, and a clear-eyed guide."-Sameer Pandya, author of Our Beautiful Boys "These stories have a vast scope: love; family; regret; the vulnerability of the human body. The characters are immigrants and the children of immigrants, their lovers and the various worlds in which they exist, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes in transit. Geeta Kohli is clear-eyed when it comes to human nature, but never ungenerous to her characters. Her sentences are always sure-footed, making the reader feel present in a living, breathing world."-Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Book of Love "The women who populate The Indianness subtly remind us that the personal is political, and that one person can be emblematic of many. Written with profound sensitivity and grace, Geeta Kohli's's outstanding debut story collection touches the heart and sparks the mind."-Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of Counting Backwards "The Indianness is a formidable work of literature. An honest and earnest collection that holds up a cultural mirror to its readers, these stories are fierce, unapologetic, raw. With these stories, Kohli has made her mark as a writer to watch."-Chinelo Okparanta, author of This Impossible Life "The 12 stories that make up The Indianness delve deep into the intricacies of their characters' lives with a ferocious kind of intimacy. These are stories revealing the most painful and hidden aspects of South-Asian-American life. An important and illuminating collection."-Nayomi Munaweera, author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors and What Lies Between Us