Washington DC · Event
Novelist Leila Renee, author of Soft Spots , will be in conversation with writer Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay. Join us for a conversation about writing, complicated family dynamics, and the power of friendship. Leila Renee is originally from Milwaukee. She earned her MFA from Syracuse University and her stories have appeared in McSweeney’s , The Kenyon Review , and more. She has received the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction and a Fulbright Award. She teaches at the University of St. Thomas and lives in Minneapolis. Raven Leilani’s Luster meets Halle Butler’s The New Me in Soft Spots, a darkly funny and off-kilter coming-of-age novel following recent college graduate Robin Clarke after she runs away from her family, only to be forced to confront whether she should reconcile with her father when his health takes a sudden turn for the worst. Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay , who goes by “Raj”, originally trained as a scientist. After earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology, Raj launched a career in science communications. For nearly two decades, she worked as a science storyteller in various forms, including as a journalist and the leader of an award-winning custom content studio. Raj was selected by Poets & Writers to be one of the 2025 Get the Word Out fiction fellows. Raj has lived in India, Kuwait, and Canada. She is now based in the U.S. with her partner, two children, two dogs, and two cats. Chitra Demands to Go Home tells the story of Chitra, a 75-year-old Bengali woman who feels trapped in an assisted living facility and just wants to go home. Describing both the bitter and the sweet, Chitra Demands to Go Home explores mother-son relationships, cross-cultural conversation, and the tribulations of getting older as Chitra plots her triumphant return to her home in Kolkata.
August 11 – August 11 · 7 PM · Kramers
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