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#VQRTrueStory

December 8, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Ashish Ajuta

Last year, at the Boston University Narrative Arc conference (one of my favorite of these journo gatherings), Jeff Sharlet, Neil Shea & Darcy Courteu sat on a stage in front of a not-so-large audience, talking about an Instagram revolution. They were not looking to share food porn, nor adorable pictures of themselves or their offspring or their feline companions. They were journalists who observe their world, and whose work can sometimes take them to distant worlds (whether Iraq in midday or a New England Dunkin Donuts at 3 am), and they watch with a close eye. They listen with a close ear. But what to do with these stories, how to share the stories of the lives, loves, losses they encountered? Answer: iPhone camera. Visceral quick writing. Way more characters than Twitter allows. All the stuff that doesn’t fit into the story you were sent to get. I was inspired, but not quite to action. Til now. Happy to jump onto Jeff & Neil’s platform and with the help of editor Paul Reyes over at Virginia Quarterly Review (one of my favorite publications: solid, serious and sumptuous all), kick off ‪#‎VQRTrueStory‬.

My week takes you to the cotton fields of Punjab, her hand upon mine. Buries your nose in live soil and let’s you feel the heat of a wood fire, the smoke in your lungs. It sets you at the feet of a girl in Bihar, who is reaching, reaching up.

Here’s the whole series in VQR.

We’re recruiting.

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, journalism, photography Tagged With: A River Runs Again, Elemental India, Instagram, photography, Virginia Quarterly Review

KPFA Uprising with Sonali

December 4, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

2015.11.6SF-9

Talking about A River Runs Again on Berkeley’s KPFA. Listen here: Uprising with Sonali

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, Elemental India, events, india, radio, readings

Brown University & Miami Book Fair

November 11, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Two upcoming events in the next week or so as part of the A River Runs Again tour.

 

Thursday, November 12: “As Goes India: Surprising Solutions for the Natural World in Crisis” 

Hosted by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs & URI’s Metcalf Institute (of which I’m a proud alum)

Location: Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Joukowsky Forum), 111 Thayer Street, Brown University, Providence, RI

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm with book signing and refreshments to follow.

 

Sunday, November 22: “Water and a World in Crisis” In conversation with author Seth M. Siegel. 

Miami Book Fair International

Location: Rm. 8525 (Bldg. 8, 5th Floor) 300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 noon

Filed Under: A River Runs Again Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, events, readings

return to oregon! KLCC

October 28, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2015-10-28 at 11.11.07 AMI’ve landed on the West Coast just as my interview with Eric Alan of KLCC‘s gone live. Have a listen. Or better yet, if you’re nearby, come say hello as I do two events in that southern stretch of the Willamette Valley that I once called home.

I’ll be speaking at University of Oregon tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 (Straub Hall, Room 145. 1451 Onyx Street, Eugene, OR), in an event hosted by the Department of Geography, Barbara & Carlisle Moore Professor of English Fund, School of Journalism & Communications, Hearst Foundation Visiting Professionals Endowment Fund, Department of Sociology, Robert D. Clark Honors College, and the University of Oregon Bookstore. Details here.

And on Sunday, I’ll be down in my old stomping grounds of Cottage Grove, speaking at the Axe and Fiddle (657 E Main St, Cottage Grove, OR) at 7:00 pm. Details here.

More events coming up in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Miami. Then…India! Full schedule here.

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, books, Elemental India, Oregon, radio

texas book festival, y’all

October 17, 2015 By meerasub 1 Comment

Screen Shot 2015-10-17 at 7.17.08 AM

Today! 3:oo in the Kirkus Reviews Tent near the Austin Capitol. Come at 8:00 am and join me for yoga with authors. 🙂

Screen Shot 2015-10-17 at 7.18.14 AM

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, Texas

living on earth

October 9, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

photo by Meera Subramanian

photo by Meera Subramanian

It was a pleasure to speak with Helen Palmer of PRI’s show Living on Earth about A River Runs Again, exploring questions about organic agriculture’s ability to feed humanity, how to handle ambivalent respect for well-intentioned nonprofits, and vulture survival. Here’s the intro…

Investigative journalist Meera Subramanian crisscrossed India examining its environmental problems and searching for homegrown solutions described in her new book A River Runs Again. She tells Living on Earth’s Helen Palmer that everywhere she looked, she found serious concerns, but also hope for a better future.

Listen to the 17-minute segment here.

 

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, News Tagged With: A River Runs Again, Elemental India, india, interview, pollution environment, radio

wnyc: bringing India back from the brink

September 12, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

photo 1

It was with great delight that I entered into the studios of WNYC on Varick Street to sit down and talk with Arun Venugopal, who was guest hosting the Leonard Lopate Show. We talked about the costs of the Green Revolution, of Hindu priests who asked, “What is your duty?” to a farming family considering going organic, of holy waters. Our conversation ended too quickly, and I didn’t quite get to elaborate on my answer to his last question, about the direction PM Modi is taking the country. I said Modi has a choice. What I felt like I didn’t make clear enough is that he can develop India at the expense of the environment, the direction he seems to be heading now, or choose to tap into the exploding number of opportunities to develop in a more sustainable way, providing a model for the world. I’m rooting for the latter, and met the people in India who hope so too.

Listen to the full interview here.

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, journalism, News Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, Elemental India, india, New York City, organic farming, pesticides, radio, religion

falmouth public library

September 10, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Falmouth

Falmouth Public Library is a stately building on sweet little Main Street in Falmouth, the corner of the Cape near Woods Hole, littered with PhDs and farmer’s markets and ferries bound for the islands. There was a nice turnout, and it was great to meet my doppleganger, a woman whose mother had come from India around the same time as mine and also married a fair-skinned American. Good conversations, during the Q&A, and after. A Punjabi man arrived late, straight from his English classes, and he told me about how he once worked for the water department there. “There is no good water in Punjab,” he said to me, shaking his head. “No good water.”

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, cape cod, Elemental India, events, readings

kickin’ it off at Porter Square Books

September 3, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

A River Runs Again book tour got off to a lovely start on a sultry night in Cambridge, where — in spite of summer ending and the school year starting — a great crowd of folks came out to the fiercely independent Porter Square Books. Thanks to my friend and wonderful talented musician, Mark Erelli, for snapping a few photos.

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Filed Under: A River Runs Again, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, Cambridge, events, readings

hitting the road soon

August 26, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Lots of book tour events are lining up. Check the calendar here for all updates & details.

ARRABooksSuitcase

  • Wed., Sept. 2 (7:00 pm): Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
  • Thurs., Sept. 3: WCAI The Point with Mindy Todd (Cape Cod NPR)
  • Sat., Sept. 5 (11:15 am): AJC Decatur Book Festival, Atlanta GA
  • Wed., Sept. 9 (7:00 pm): Falmouth Public Library, Falmouth, MA
  • Thurs., Sept. 24 (7:30 pm): Wellfleet Preservation Hall, Wellfleet, Cape Cod, MA
  • Wed., Sept 30 (12:30 pm): UVA Medical Center Hour, Charlottesville, VA
  • Tues., Oct. 13 (3:00 pm): Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC
  • Thurs., Oct. 15 (6:00 pm): NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, NYC, NY
  • Sat., Oct. 17: Texas Book Festival, Austin, TX (details TBD)
  • Oct. 23 – 25: Indo-American Arts Council Literary Festival, Hunter College, New York, NY (details TBD)
  • Sun., Nov. 1: The Axe & Fiddle, Cottage Grove, OR
  • Mon., Nov. 2 (7:30 pm): Powell’s on Hawthorne, Portland, OR
  • Tues., Nov. 3 (7:00 pm): Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
  • Thurs., Nov. 5 (7:00 pm): San Francisco World Affairs Council, San Francisco, CA
  • Tues., Nov. 17 (6:30 pm): Sturgis Library, Barnstable, Cape Cod, MA
  • Sat., Nov. 21: Miami Book Fair International, Miami, FL (details TBD)

Hope to see you. If not, there’s always this. 🙂

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, Elemental India, events, readings, travel

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