Event Description
Porter Square Books: Boston Edition and GrubStreet are delighted to present the latest installment of the Grubbie Debut event series, featuring Anu Kandikuppa! Join us for a celebration of her short story collection The Confines on Thursday, April 3 at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition (50 Liberty Dr. Boston, Ma 02210). Author Michelle Hoover will join Kandikuppa in conversation, and the author talk will be followed by a signing line.
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ABOUT THE CONFINES
Fresh and provocative, the twelve stories in The Confines by Anu Kandikuppa deliver us into the cultural expectations, hierarchies, and taboos that define and limit our lives, especially the lives of women. A man's seemingly innocent gesture at a party unravels buried tensions in a marriage. A grieving doctor chronicles the peculiar ailments of an elderly couple yearning for their absent son. A young woman wrestles with her unrequited attraction to a colleague. Set in India and the U.S., these elegant and rare stories explore love, loss, and resilience, uncovering the compromises and hopes that shape our search for happiness.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Anu Kandikuppa has worked as an engineer, software developer, and economics consultant, most recently as Principal. Her debut book, The Confines, is informed by the social structures of Indian families among which she grew up. Her writing has appeared in New England Review, Story, and other journals, and received special mention in Pushcart Prize anthologies. Kandikuppa’s work has been supported by grants, fellowships, and residencies from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Ragdale Foundation, and others. She holds a Ph.D. in Finance and an MFA in Writing from Warren Wilson College. She lives outside Boston. Her website is www.anukandikuppa.com.
Michelle Hoover has taught writing for more than 25 years and currently leads the GrubStreet Novel Incubator program, which she co-founded in 2011. Her students have signed 50+ book contracts. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University, a fellow at MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee Writers Conferences, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Her debut, The Quickening, was a 2010 Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read," a finalist for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and one of Susan Straight's 1001 "Library of America" Novels featured in the L.A. Times. Her second novel, Bottomland, was the 2017 All Iowa Reads selection and a 2016 Mass Book "Must Read." She is the creator of The 7am Novelist, the popular podcast and webinar series for writers. She is a native of Iowa and lives in Cyprus and Boston.
This class will take place in-person at our Center for Creative Writing in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.
Covid-19 Update:
GrubStreet's space will be mask-optional when Boston's Covid-19 Community Level is low or medium. When the Covid-19 Community Level is high, our space will require masks. Please check GrubStreet's Covid-19 page for the latest info on masking and Community Levels before visiting in person.
Space Accessibility:
Our space is ADA accessible with automatic door openers, ADA-compliant restrooms, desk and table spacing, braille signage, and elevator. Our classrooms can be equipped with ALS for hard of hearing individuals. We cannot guarantee a scent-free environment. For more accessibility requests, please contact our Operations team at [email protected] or (617) 695-0075.