About Aditya

Baltimore City - Station North A&E District
Aditya Desai is a South Asian American writer, editor, teacher, and literary programmer living in Baltimore. He's served on the mastheads of Guernica, South Asian Avant-Garde Anthology, Atticus Review, and Hyphen Magazine. He currently is the literary programmer with Maryland Humanities and has worked with the CityLit Project, Baltimore Youth Arts, and the Asian Pasifika Arts Collective. His stories and essays in literary publications and magazines including … more

The Quixotic Search for South Asian Media Representation - Essay

Critical essay reviewing the Netflix series Never Have I Ever as a basis for considering questions of media representation, nostalgia, craft's impact on content, and what it means to "be seen." Published Tropics of Meta May 2020.
https://tropicsofmeta.com/2020/05/27/the-quixotic-search-for-south-asian-media-representation/

Terminus - Novel Excerpt of "Terminus"

 Excerpt published in B O D Y Magazine.

Terminus follows two characters: Ashok, an Indian immigrant grieving from the loss of his son, and Abdi, an African-American trying to reintegrate to society after release from prison for a wrongful conviction. Their lives are intertwined by the construction of a new metro line in Baltimore – for Ashok and his wife, this is a new lease on their snatched American dream; for Abdi, a growing sense of local activism to protect his community. The novel crosses the suburbs and inner-city neighborhoods, highlighting fractures of race, gentrification and daily human struggle. The ideas for this novel began before the Freddie Gray Uprisings in 2015, and in the aftermath as it’s issues have become more prominent. I am keenly interested in getting feedback at how it addresses issues of race to make sure I am writing ethically and responsibly. Genres/Keywords: social novel, criminal justice, gentrification Comp titles: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Deepa Annapara), Lucky Boy (Shanti Sekaran), The Leavers (Lisa Ko) Current draft: 4
  • TERMINUS.pdf

The Cost of Doing Business - Essay

A creative essay written in response to the February 2017 shootings in Olathe, KS where a white xenophobe targeted two Indian men he believed to be Iranians, killing one. Published originally in The Rumpus, September 2017:

http://therumpus.net/2017/09/the-cost-of-doing-business/

Woman with Power Is Woman Unchecked: Reading Narratives of Indian Women - Essay

Essay surveying Indian literature and popular narratives, everything from the Mahabharata to Bollywood and literary points in between, considering what agency they give women (both as the creators and characters of works) and how that has engendered severe misogyny in the culture at large. Published by The Millions, April 2017: 
https://themillions.com/2017/04/woman-power-woman-unchecked-narratives-indian-women.html

A Swimming Pool - Short Story

Told in the second-person POV, a man reflects on his unfinished backyard pool at a time when he is becoming increasingly disconnected from his family.

Forthcoming in District Lit, 2017.
  • ASwimmingPool_AdityaDesai.pdf

A Bend In The Track - Novel Excerpt of "Terminus"

This excerpt from my novel-in-progress follows an Indian-American man still grieving the loss of his son, as a new work promotion puts new lease on his hope for the American Dream.

Published in The New Engagement, January 2017 Issue.
http://thenewengagement.com/literature/a-bend-in-the-track
  • ABendInTheTrack_AdityaDesai.pdf

Foraging - Novel Excerpt of "Terminus"

This excerpt from my novel-in-progress follows a young African-American man attempting to re-enter society after being released from prison.

Published in the Asian American Writers Workshop's The Margins, featured Fiction Friday Author, 2/5/2016.
http://aaww.org/foraging/
  • Foraging_AdityaDesai.pdf

More Jaggery - Short Story

Set in the Indian-American enclave of Edison, NJ, this story profiles a family caught in a moment of fracture. This was my first story published.

Published in The Kartika Review, Summer Issue 13, 2012.
https://issuu.com/kartikareview/docs/kartika_issue13
  • MoreJaggery_AdityaDesai.pdf