This Is One Way to Dance, Sejal Shah
This Is One Way to Dance, Sejal Shah
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This Is One Way to Dance
Essays

Author: Sejal Shah

Narrator: Priya Ayyar

Unabridged: 4 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/09/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A powerful meditation on identity and belonging, Sejal Shah explores the tension of being both invisible and hyper-visible in a country that struggles with race. The daughter of immigrants from Indian and Kenya, Shah wrestles with her experiences growing up in—and returning to—western New York, an area of stark racial and socioeconomic segregation. Her work illuminates how we are all marked by family and place; by the limits of our bodies; by our losses and regrets; by who and what we love; by our ambivalences and our silences. This is a book about growing up Indian in non-Indian places, about what it means to be American, South Asian American, a writer of color, and a feminist. Shah considers the implications of being asked where are you from—the geographic and cultural distances between people, how these gaps are imagined and real, constructed and changing. These literary essays will certainly appeal to readers of short stories and poetry as well.

About Sejal Shah

Sejal Shah is a writer, interdisciplinary artist, and teacher. Her debut essay collection, This Is One Way to Dance, was named an NPR Best Book of 2020 and included in over thirty most-anticipated lists including Electric Literature, Lit Hub, the Los Angeles Times, The Millions, Ms. Magazine, PEN America, Self, and others. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in fiction and the author of the forthcoming story collection How to Make Your Mother Cry. Find her online at sejal-shah.com and on Twitter and Instagram at @SejalShahWrites.

About Priya Ayyar

Priya Ayyar is an audiobook narrator, actor, and writer with a BFA and MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her acting credits for television and film include Law & Order: Criminal Intent, All My Children, and the documentary The Children of War. She has appeared on stage in War of the Unheard, Aminta, and The Road Home, and she has written and performed in the plays Karmic Fusion and Losing Remote Control.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas on December 26, 2021

Honest essays about growing up Indian American in the United States, specifically Rochester, New York. I most appreciated Sejal Shah’s guileless yet intelligent writing style. Though she touches on potentially weighty topics such as race, representation, and human connection and loss, her somewhat i......more

Goodreads review by Suraj on June 30, 2020

This simply is one of the best books I've read all year. I rarely write reviews but I have to say something about this sensually enlightening experience I was just put through. I occasionally read essays but fiction for me is numero uno. And it goes without saying I've never read or thought of readi......more

Goodreads review by Lupita on May 16, 2020

Truly enjoyed this collection. More on why after I mediate some more on these words!!......more

Goodreads review by Jack on January 02, 2021

That was bad. In general, I've come to the conclusion that when a publisher pieces together an authors essays written over a span of several years, it is almost an act of desperation. I thought I was going to get some insights about South Asian Indians growing up in America and those hardships. Rath......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on June 08, 2020

This collection of linked essays begins with Shah's exploration of growing up in Rochester, New York, the daughter of Gujarati immigrants from India and Kenya, and covers twenty years of inhabiting a space where one's identity is only partially (and imperfectly) reflected back. One of the first essa......more


Quotes

“One of the most nuanced, wise, and tender portraits of immigration I have ever read.” Kiran Desai, Man Booker Prize–winning author

“This is a sensitive, poignant collection.” Kirkus Reviews


Awards

  • NPR Best Book
  • IPPY Silver Medal
  • Foreword Indies Award
  • Nautilus Gold Award