MADHUSHREE GHOSH

A brown woman, early fifties, long wavy black hair, facing direct, left hand to face, in a white dress with black zig-zag print, and a maroon Indian fabric scarf.

 

 

 

An immigrant and daughter of refugees, Madhushree Ghosh works in oncology diagnostics, and is a social justice activist. A "Ms Magazine Most Anticipated Reads of 2022 for The Rest of Us" and a "22 Books to Read in 2022 by South Asian Authors" by A Brown Girl Bookshelf, Madhushree's food narrative memoir, Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family is out April 2022, from University of Iowa Press.

Madhushree's nonfiction can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, LA Times, Longreads, Catapult, Guernica, BOMB, and others. Her work has been awarded a Notable Mention in Best American Essays in Food Writing and a Pushcart Prize nomination.

She lives in San Diego, California, and works in oncology diagnostics with a passionate focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the food, healthcare, and biotech world.

Read more on her website.

SESSION: How to Use The Braided Form to Talk About Things That Matter

Recent nonfiction, essays, and even fiction work has been exciting in their use of the braided structure, i.e. multiple threads exploring a common theme or goal.

The extremely interactive session will include examples, and the process of how to create a braided structure in longform and short essays, and highlight what successful essayists/nonfiction writers have done well.

Using childhood memory, objects, food, or news to ask a fundamental query, and to find a commonality in multiple different topics is what we will discuss in this session. Focus will be on social justice, politics, investigation, linked with personal narrative, memoir, and creative nonfiction. We will explore ways to elaborate, investigate, and highlight common themes in a single narrative nonfiction essay (that participants will generate during the session).

While primarily a craft session to talk about braided essays focusing on food with social justice or memory/childhood strands, we will also touch upon how to work with narrative nonfiction editors, pitching, and reaching out to journals, magazines, and news media publications for publication and for building a long-term relationship with them.