Episode description

On this holiday weekend we're revisiting a special episode with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (“Interpreter of Maladies”, “The Namesake”). In vivid, writerly detail Lahiri describes being raised in a family “spread out in various places” (5:05), her late mother’s recurring presence in her writing (10:20), the comfort (and pain) of being an observer (17:45), and the vibrancy she found in Rome (26:32), which inspired her new novel (written in Italian, translated in English) “Whereabouts” (29:45). On the back-half, Jhumpa reflects on the metamorphosis that occurred in her mother’s final days (35:00), how her familial ties (from Kolkata to Rhode Island) informed her early work (42:20), and, finally, why she writes (46:47).

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