Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Between Worlds: Race, Power, Culture, Selfhood
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Rob Franklin in conversation with Tayyba Kanwal
Writing from vastly different geographies, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Rob Franklin share a deep commitment to stories that interrogate identity, power, and cultural complexity. In conversation with Tayyba Kanwal, they explore the ways fiction can examine inherited privilege, personal rebellion, myth, and the search for home.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author of twenty-three books, including Independence, winner of the American Book Award (1996). She has been included in The Economic Times' list of ‘The 20 Most Influential Global Indian Women.’ Chitra’s latest book, An Uncommon Love, is a biography looking at the early part of the lives of Sudha and Narayan Murthy. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston.
Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction and poetry, and a co-founder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer Award, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus, among others. Born and raised in Atlanta, Franklin lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Great Black Hope is his first novel.
Tayyba Kanwal is a writer from Houston, TX. Her short story collection, Talking with Boys, is scheduled to be out in January 2026. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and an MS from the University of Oregon. She is Senior Editor at Conjunctions and a proud member of the Inprint team.
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#myth #diaspora #history
Between Worlds: Race, Power, Culture, Selfhood
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Rob Franklin in conversation with Tayyba Kanwal
Writing from vastly different geographies, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Rob Franklin share a deep commitment to stories that interrogate identity, power, and cultural complexity. In conversation with Tayyba Kanwal, they explore the ways fiction can examine inherited privilege, personal rebellion, myth, and the search for home.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author of twenty-three books, including Independence, winner of the American Book Award (1996). She has been included in The Economic Times' list of ‘The 20 Most Influential Global Indian Women.’ Chitra’s latest book, An Uncommon Love, is a biography looking at the early part of the lives of Sudha and Narayan Murthy. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston.
Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction and poetry, and a co-founder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer Award, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus, among others. Born and raised in Atlanta, Franklin lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Great Black Hope is his first novel.
Tayyba Kanwal is a writer from Houston, TX. Her short story collection, Talking with Boys, is scheduled to be out in January 2026. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and an MS from the University of Oregon. She is Senior Editor at Conjunctions and a proud member of the Inprint team.
Follow us on –
Website - jlflitfest.org
Facebook - facebook.com/JLFInternational
YouTube - youtube.com/@JLFInternational
Instagram - instagram.com/jlfinternational
Twitter - twitter.com/JLFLitfest
#myth #diaspora #history
