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Through discussions and interviews with writers, artists and health professionals, author friends James McKenzie Watson and Ashley Kalagian Blunt explore the big questions: how do books get written? How do people navigate life with chronic illness? And just what are you reading?

Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of Dark Mode, an internationally published psychological thriller. Her earlier books are How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, collected fiction and essays. Her writing appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, and more. Ashley is an enthusiastic teacher of writing and creativity. Originally from Canada, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico. Find her on Twitter and Instagram or visit her website.

James McKenzie Watson is the author of Denizen, which won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize and was shortlisted in 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Best Debut. His writing has appeared in The GuardianMeanjinKill Your Darlings and the Newtown Review of Books. He has appeared at events including the Sydney Writers Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival and BAD Crime Sydney. He works as a nurse. Find him on Twitter and Instagram or visit his website.

Jan 11, 2022

How do we build community and a sense of self after loss, especially the kind of loss that echoes for generations? James and Ashley speak with Australian Sri Lankan author Shankari Chandran about her new novel, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, and how her efforts to find connection in the writing community echo her Tamil family's work to build community after being dispossessed from their homeland in the Sri Lankan civil war.

Shankari discusses writing from a place of anger and love, the changing Australian publishing landscape, and how literature creates an archive of the dispossessed. 

This episode connects to our conversations with previous guests Nardi Simpson (ep 18), Luke Stegemann (ep 26), David Heska Wanbli Weiden (ep 40), in which we explore the legacy of mass traumatic events on the health of communities and society.

Shankari Chandran was raised in Canberra, Australia. She spent a decade in London, working as a lawyer in the social justice field, before returning to Australia, where she now lives with her husband and children. She is the author of two previous novels, Song of the Sun God, and The Barrier, and has been shortlisted for the Fairway National Literary Award and the Norma K Hemming Award for speculative fiction. 

Learn more about Shankari on her website, and buy a copy of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens from your local bookshopBooktopia or wherever else books are sold. 

Books and authors discussed in this episode:

  • A Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam;
  • Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell;
  • Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (from ep 18);
  • Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie;
  • They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall;
  • David Heska Wanbli Weiden (from ep 40);
  • Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian translated by Mabel Lee;
  • Amnesia Road by Luke Stegemann (from ep 26)

Check out Shankari's essay on writing and resilience published by Writing NSW.

Plus, join Ashley for her Laneway Learning online workshop, The Joy of Creative Writing (Monday 31 January, 7:45-9pm AEDT) and her upcoming online event with Anna Downes (Thursday 3 Feb, 11am AEDT). 


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