Anjana Appachana was born and educated in India and the US and spends her time in both countries. Her first book
Incantations & Other Stories was published in the UK, India, the US, Germany and France.
Listening Now, her novel, was first published in the US and India in 1998, and subsequently in France. It was also shortlisted for the Crossword Prize. Her latest book,
Fear and Lovely, which continues the story that began in
Listening Now, was published in the UK and India in 2023. Appachana is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship and an O. Henry Festival prize. Her stories have been anthologized and published in anthologies, journals and magazines in India, the UK, the US, and other countries.
The story of Listening Now takes place before the events of Appachana’s 2023 critically acclaimed novel, Fear and Lovely.
Mallika, a child given to weaving, is convinced that the lives of the mothers around her are dull and devoid of passion and fantasizes romantic love. The truth, which lies at the heart of this story, is completely different. Her mother, Padma, her mother’s sister, Shanta, her mother’s two friends, Madhu and Anu, and her grandmother, Rukmini, all hold wrenching secrets; their complex lives and longings are beyond the child Mallika’s comprehension. Set in 1950s and 1960s, this story encompasses the lives of two generations of women in a small, New Delhi neighbourhood, where conventional lives are lived on the surface, while below, secrets seethe—threatening to destroy everything that has been so carefully constructed to accommodate society’s structures and expectations. Rendered through six points of view, Listening Now captures the voices of these women; the spoken conversations as well as all that remains in the realm of silence. Shortlisted for the Crossword Prize when it was first published in 1998, Listening Now holds readers in its embrace from the very first line.
