@namratapoddar
Author of BORDER LESS | Faculty at UCLA | Essays/nonfiction at Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Longreads, LA Times, etc. Interests include Decolonial —> storytelling, parenting, yoga, healing. Writing 2nd book, a memoir. Intermittently here.
Birthday greetings to my firstborn book, “Border Less” — no more a toddler this #womenshistorymonth. And selfie from the day I first held the ARC or a journey of 17 years, cuz in a world where Power is bent on silencing as many as possible, it feels radical to witness *a coming into voice. 🧿🪷
Unlike many professions, literary art doesn’t operate within a strictly capitalist framework of effort versus reward. So, how do writers pay their bills while doing what they love? Check out this workshop with @namratapoddar.bsky.social (grab your spot, it starts tonight!): at.pw.org/taboo
Course details and author photo against a black backdrop
Text in black against white backdrop
Text in black against white backdrop
Text in black against white backdrop
Writers about to birth a book but aren’t supported by a big PR budget, join me! Or help spread the word? Writing is firstly a creative practice, but there’s so much more to it as a professional path in the 21st century.
Excited to offer👇🏾 at @narrativelyacademy.bsky.social 🤎
Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.
May we stay in the #heartchakra, more often than not. Happy V Day, Community. 💚
(Image credit @thichnhathanhgems)
I’ll get to the translations later (critique is always a longer story) but for now, I’m in for a cultural performance at a national scale with *zero translation. May all self-expression aspire to this—a refusal to assimilate to the hegemonic gaze.
(& icing on the cake if it gets rhythm, Dia says.🏈)
Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.
Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.
a dose of winter quiet for whoever needs it today. 🙏🏽🌀
resist — *without blocking the heart chakra. 🪷
we need allyship in all forms we can get. i’m especially for white male artists calling out the consequences of white male leadership. redistribute the labor that artists of color have carried disproportionately.
Bruce Springsteen releases “Streets of Minneapolis” 👇🏾🤍
www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...
Saraswati with veena and swans seated in a river.
My thoughts for Vasanth Panchami as black text against white background.
Swan in a dark river
Cuz I hold stubbornly a vision for Spring. Vasanth Panchami greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽🤎
To BIPOC seeking help w mental health (more so in the times!) yet falling short, reminder that the system (/medical industrial complex) wasn’t built at its core to serve the global majority. May you be kind to yourself, may you continue to replenish as you give.
& yes, healing IS political (too).🙏🏽🌀
My selfie as a reader and fan holding a copy of Arundhati Roy’s latest book.
I’m reading it too. & wondering: how many brown kids are breaking reading it? How many are confronting buried selves/stories? Cuz every desi kid I know has been brainwashed early enough: family is everything. Phew.
For #ArundhatiRoy fans, this too is a must-read, although Kleenex supplies!
P.S. www.pw.org/content/work...
I’m so excited to be offering this course @pw.org. Writers: let’s talk Taboo! 🤎👇🏾
A question students (oft “minority” ones) ask me often: How do writers pay their bills? It’s like, without knowing this, they won’t give themselves the permission to pursue writing as a consistent *practice. It’s too far-fetched otherwise, writing being the stuff rich kids do. So a course @pw.org 👇🏾🙏🏽
Joyous New Year to you and yours, Community! 🤎
May we show up responsibly over our brief time on this gorgeous, troubled planet. And yesss to a world with men cleaning up after themselves. 🧿
Featuring today as a wrap for the year: books from my Fall syllabus (without standalone essays taught), a cliched L.A. prof selfie, or the one stuck in traffic, and reminders to self, should you need it too.
May the holidays bring you rest and a joyous transition into 2026! See you next year. 🤎🌀🙏🏽
My thoughts on the MFA in black font against a beige background.
I’ve said this for a while now, including in my essays @pw.org and @literaryhub.bsky.social , but the educator in me cannot repeat this enough. As someone who believes big in the potential of storytelling, I cannot repeat this enough. We must rethink the MFA. 🤎
Early career writers, join me @pw.org. Let’s talk *Taboo! 🤎👇🏾
A lil from my Fall syllabus cuz if you ask me, it’s always a good time to read Arundhati Roy, more so on rainy winter evenings like these. This via her collection of essays, “The End of Imagination,” published in 1998. What changed, I often wonder. Yet a reminder of so much we can.
California voters approved Prop. 50. Here's a look at the percentage of "yes" votes by county, with 25.1% precincts reporting as of Nov. 4, 8:18 p.m.
Comment on Mamdani’s education against blue background.
Literally every girlfriend and colleague today. Thanks for sharing, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, and reiterating for my desi community of STEM majors/advocates.
To the real DEI. 🤓🤎
Lord knows we can use a good news in the labyrinths of Power. Go, Zohran Mamdani! ❤️🤎
Good point, thanks
Who did this? I am dead 😂🤣🤣😂🤣🤣
Happy "PROFESSOR!!! CANVAS IS DOWN!!!" day to all academics who celebrate.
May your path exude light and abundance.
Diwali and New Year greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽❤️
Dialogue over domination—may now be a fresher start to a newer road, a fresher relationship to power
— within a long winding road where so much seeks attention, accountability, repair… and righlty so. ❤️🩹
#permanentceasefirenow
