KAVITA DAS
“Deeply affecting writing brings about personal transformation through subtle shifts in awareness, perspective, and empathy. When writing about social issues is effective, it has the power to spark a personal transformation that feeds into collective social and cultural transformation.”
“A fascinating and forceful guide to stepping up and speaking out on the page.”
“Brilliant! A must-read for anyone who cares deeply about social and political issues and wants to make their own voice heard. Kavita Das’s Craft and Conscience aims to bring out the inner activist in your writing — whether you’re an emerging writer or an established one — by showing you how to articulate your motivations, by showcasing essays from masters of the genre, and by analyzing what forceful, well-thought arguments are made of.”
“From her life on stage to her personal triumphs that included a beautiful friendship with Ravi Shankar, her marriage and the unfortunate death of her daughter Viji, the book aims to present a side of her that remains undocumented by international media. Complete with anecdotes from Lakshmi herself, pictures from old archives with stalwarts like Alla Rakha and more and written in superfluous language, the author is able to present her life’s story so beautifully by virtue of perhaps having known her since childhood. The foreword is written by Anoushka Shankar. For history and music enthusiasts, this book is for keeps.”
Kavita Das is the author of Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues (Beacon Press, October 2022), which grew out of her popular “Writing About Social Issues” nonfiction seminar, offered at the New School. Kavita worked in social change for close to fifteen years, addressing issues ranging from community and housing inequities, to public health disparities, to racial injustice. She is also the author of Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar (Harper Collins India, June 2019), the life story of Grammy-nominated Hindustani singer Lakshmi Shankar.
At the root of both her writing and social change work is Kavita’s desire to provoke thought and engender change by recognizing and revealing the true ways in which culture, race, and gender intersect especially when it comes to societal inequities. Kavita has been a regular contributor to NBC News Asian America, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Rumpus. In addition, her work has been published in WIRED, Poets & Writers, Catapult, LitHub, Tin House, Longreads, Kenyon Review, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Guernica, McSweeney’s, Fast Company, Quartz, Colorlines, Romper, and elsewhere. She was nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Kavita’s essays on social issues have been included in two creative writing textbooks.
Kavita received a B.A. in Urban Studies from Bryn Mawr College and a M.B.A. in Marketing from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Putnam County, NY
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Book Jacket
Book Jacket
