The Work Room Interview: Kavita Das on Writing Social Issues
Interview by Kate Mabus
Kate Mabus: How did you develop your personal ethic on writing about social issues?
Kavita Das: I came to writing full time after working in social change for close to 15 years. When I worked in social change, I was motivated by wanting to raise awareness about crucial issues and how they were impacting individuals and communities and by a desire to improve people's lives. These are some of the same motivations that guide my writing about social issues. Although I want my writing about an issue to be compelling, I never want to sensationalize an issue or compromise human dignity.
KM: In addition to writing, you’ve also worked in the social justice sector. Do you see writing as a form of activism?
KD: In these fraught times of deep divisions and book bans, I do believe that reading and writing are forms of activism that everyone can participate in and support. However, that doesn't make us all activists. Activists put their lives and livelihoods on the line for their beliefs, they work tirelessly to advance justice and equity in the world. The fact that some writers are languishing in prison or have lost their lives due to their words is evidence of the power and peril of writing.
KM: Talk to us about the role of workshop and revision in this course.
KD: In How to Write About Social Issues, we focus on figuring out the right balance of context, or background explanation about an issue and narrative, the story we're trying to tell about the issue. This balance is different for each person and each piece they're trying to write. I'm constantly blown away by the passion of my students for the issues they care about and by their generous feedback to each other.
KM: What are some of the topics that have been pressing most on your mind, and your pen, recently?
KD: I'm deeply concerned about the rising book bans and attempts to erase our country's true history. Ironically, I wrote a piece in 2017 for the Los Angeles Review of Books about how history textbooks present watered down and offensive versions of history in an attempt to appease powerful conservatives in the educational realm but the situation is much more grave now and we have to speak out and fight back through our schools, school boards, and of course, our local and national elections. At the same time, these attempts at banning books and revising historical texts underscore the power of writing and our need for more writers of conscience.