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Samrat Upadhyay is the first Nepali-born fiction writer to be published in the West. He is the author of seven books of fiction that have been translated into French, Greek, Spanish, and Thai, among others. His books have won or been finalists for major international awards, including the Whiting Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the Kiriyama Prize, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and the Aspen Literary Prize. They have received praise from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. His story “The Limping Bride” is being made into the film “Perfect God,” directed by Khyentse Norbu.
Upadhyay’s latest work is Darkmotherland, a dystopian novel in which a dictator rises to power in an earthquake-ravaged country, an epic tale with intertwining narratives of love and political violence that The New York Times calls “disturbing and wildly inventive.” Upadhyay has written for The New York Times and has appeared on BBC Radio and National Public Radio. He is a Distinguished Professor of English and Martha C. Kraft Professor of Humanities at Indiana University, where he teaches creative writing.
How did you know you were ready to write your latest book?
I didn’t know it. I was writing a different book when the 2015 Gorkha earthquake happened, and the entire trajectory changed. What had started out as a realist novel became dystopian. I became interested in autocracy and in strange, unsettling things happening. The story kept getting longer, and I allowed myself to go along with it. I don’t work with ideas or plot outlines—I simply follow an image or a character when I start a novel—so the concept of “readiness” isn’t really relevant to my writing process.
What were the most challenging sections?
I was dealing with a multitude of characters, many of whom were unlike me, so I had to think very hard about what they were feeling and thinking. I have also never lived under the kind of hard dictatorship I was writing about in Darkmotherland, so I had to dig deep into my imagination. I did quite a bit of research for this novel as well. Given the multitude of threads and characters, each with their own storyline, it was challenging to hold everything together as a unified whole.
Is the reader present for you as you write?
I try not to think about the reader when I am writing. I like to think that I’m writing only for myself, at least in the initial draft, before I even know what story I’m telling. Once I have a first draft and understand the contours of the story, I might summon my most intelligent reader during the revision process.
What are you currently working on?
I am working on several novels as well as a story collection. After the long novel that became Darkmotherland, it has been something of a relief to return to shorter novels.
What book are you reading?
This summer, I am primarily reading books by my former students: Tia Clara, Laura Dzubay, and Tessa Yang. It’s always a moment of pride for me when I hold a book by a former student in my hands. Several of my students have either published or are scheduled to publish novels and story collections, and that is a real thrill for me as both a reader and a teacher.
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