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Publications

My fiction and nonfiction have appeared or are forthcoming in venues like NPR, The Guardian, The Washington Post, BBC Culture, The Atlantic, Publishers Weekly, Dallas Morning News, The Star Tribune, Words Without Borders, Literary Hub, World Literature Today, Longreads, Poets & Writers, Los Angeles Review of Books, Asymptote Journal, Scroll.in, and more.

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NOTES:
1) I’m working on upcoming book projects, so there are fewer publications this year.
2) To purchase any of the (US) books I’ve written about, click here.
3) For my free newsletters on translation and historical fiction, click here.
4) For all interviews and features I’ve published via Desi Books, click here.

Selected Clips

  1. ‘The Covenant of Water’ tells the story of three generations in South India. NPR. May 2023.
  2. Gujarati Literature in Translation Feature (guest-edited). Words Without Borders. November 2022 to March 2023.
  3. Crossroad (an excerpt) by Varsha Adalja. Translated from Gujarati to English. Words Without Borders. October 2022.
  4. Moving Beyond Stereotypes in South Asian Literature. Publishers Weekly. December 2021.
  5. Craft Capsule: We Are All Translators. Poets & Writers. September 2020.
  6. The Secret Lives of Yoga Instructors (introduced by Elizabeth McCracken). Electric Literature. September 2020.
  7. In How to Pronounce Knife, stories of Lao immigrants reveal everyday moments of racism, classism, power, and privilege. The Washington Post. April 2020.
  8. Short Stories: Later-life Relationships. PopMatters. May 2019.
  9. Emerging As a Writer — After 40. Longreads. November 2018.
  10. After ‘Dunkirk’, A Starter List of 10 Engaging Books (and a Bonus) on India’s Role in the Great Wars. Scroll.in. August 2017.

Essays (27)

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  1. Translating Gujarat: On Raising Visibility and Sharing Literary Wealth. Words Without Borders. March 2023.
  2. Breaking Down the Translation Pyramid: On Translating Dhumketu’s Pioneering Short Stories from Gujarati. (edited excerpt from the introduction of The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories by Dhumketu; translated by Jenny Bhatt.) Literary Hub. August 2022.
  3. Klara and the Sun vs. The Trees. Tournament of Books 2022 (The Morning News.) March 2022.
  4. Moving Beyond Stereotypes in South Asian Literature. Publishers Weekly. December 2021.
  5. A Year in Reading: Jenny Bhatt. The Millions. December 2020.
  6. Writers Recommend: Jenny Bhatt Recommends . . . Poets & Writers. October 2020.
  7. Craft Capsule: The Writer’s Mind on Music. Poets & Writers. October 2020.
  8. Craft Capsule: Revising Folktales and Myths. Poets & Writers. October 2020.
  9. Reading to Each Other, a Woman in Mumbai and a Man in Dallas Turned Their Talks Into Marriage. The Dallas Morning News. September 2020.
  10. Craft Capsule: The Art of Literary Criticism. Poets & Writers. September 2020.
  11. Music Playlist for Each of Us Killers. Largehearted Boy. September 2020.
  12. Craft Capsule: We Are All Translators. Poets & Writers. September 2020.
  13. On Books and Their Harbors: Public Libraries. Kenyon Review Online. September 2020.
  14. Can South Asians Only Write One Story?. Lychee Substack Newsletter (run by Meghna Rao). September 2020.
  15. The Unexpected Politics of Book Cover Design. Literary Hub. September 2020.
  16. Emerging As a Writer — After 40. Longreads. November 2018.
  17. How Can Literature (and Publishers) Respond to the Problems of Gender and Power. Scroll.in. November 2018.
  18. Why India Needs a Professional Association for Writers and Translators. Scroll.in. November 2018.
  19. But Let Us Cultivate Our Garden. The Millions. November 2018.
  20. Jenny Bhatt on Raymond Queneau’s ‘Exercises in Style’. National Book Critics Circle Blog. October 2018.
  21. Why we should never give up our quest to find (or write) the Great Indian Novel. Scroll.in. August 2018.
  22. Letters Between Writers and Editors. Scroll.in. May 2018.
  23. ‘Have you stopped reading? Here are ten ways to get back to books.’ Scroll.in. February 2018.
  24. ‘Six High Points of the Jaipur Literary Festival, 2018’ Scroll.in. February 2018.
  25. ‘On Domestic Abuse and Saving Our Men.’ Hofstra University’s Windmill Online. May 2017.
  26. ‘Your Most Formative Literary Passages.’ The Atlantic. October 2016.
  27. ‘So You’re The Only Woman on the Panel? Now Go In For the Kill.’ The Ladies Finger, June 2015.

Book Reviews (43)

  1. ‘Every Rising Sun’ by Jamila Ahmed review – a feminist take on One Thousand and One Nights. The Guardian. August 2023.
  2. ‘The East Indian’ imagines the life of the first Indian immigrant to now-U.S. land. NPR. May 2023.
  3. ‘The Covenant of Water’ tells the story of three generations in South India. NPR. May 2023.
  4. The Newlyweds by Mansi Choksi. Star Tribune. August 2022.
  5. Wajahat Ali’s ‘Go Back To Where You Came From’ is biting and funny and full of heart. NPR. January 2022.
  6. This Surprising Debut Takes Readers To A Crossroads Of Empires And Cultures. (on Vinod Busjeet’s Silent Winds, Dry Seas.) NPR. August 2021.
  7. ‘Against White Feminism’ Is An Urgent Call To Action For Solidarity And Justice. NPR. August 2021.
  8. ‘A Passage North’ Is A Quiet Elegy For Lives Lost To Civil War. NPR. July 2021.
  9. ‘The Startup Wife,’ by Tahmima Anam. Star Tribune. July 2021.
  10. ‘Curb’ Uses Poetry To Scrub At The Wounds Of Anti-Asian Racism. NPR. April 2021.
  11. The City of Good Death by Priyanka Champaneri. Star Tribune. April 2021.
  12. Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. On the Seawall. March 2021.
  13. ‘A Swim in a Pond in the Rain’ mines Russian short-story masters for valuable insight. The Dallas Morning News. January 2021.
  14. Meena Kandasamy Claims Space For Herself In ‘Exquisite Cadavers’. NPR. November 2020.
  15. In How to Pronounce Knife, stories of Lao immigrants reveal everyday moments of racism, classism, power, and privilege. The Washington Post. April 2020.
  16. Night Theater: Surgery, Corruption, and Chekhov. PopMatters. February 2020.
  17. ‘Waiting’: A Short Story Collection Shows Us the Inner Lives of Women But Doesn’t Ask New Questions. Scroll.in. April 2019.
  18. Speculation and Responsibility in ‘A People’s Future of the United States’. PopMatters. April 2019.
  19. ‘All the Lives We Ever Lived’ Finds Comfort in Mourning with Virginia Woolf. PopMatters. February 2018.
  20. Bringing Forth the Male Gaze in ‘Preeto and Other Stories. PopMatters. January 2019.
  21. What Commands Your Behaviors? On ‘Rule Makers, Rule Breakers’. PopMatters. December 2018.
  22. ‘Half Gods’ and Painful Fragments. PopMatters. October 2018.
  23. On Sound and Rhythm in Literary Texts: Angela Leighton’s ‘Hearing Things’. PopMatters. October 2018.
  24. On Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters on Loss: ‘The Dark Interval’. PopMatters. September 2018.
  25. A. M. Homes’ ‘Days of Awe’ and Mastering the Art of Dialogue. PopMatters. August 2018.
  26. ‘Alone Time’ and the Joys of Solitary, Mindful Travel. PopMatters. August 2018.
  27. On Roxane Gay’s Republished Short Stories ‘Ayiti’. PopMatters. July 2018.
  28. Nowhere Is a Place in Tatyana Tolstaya’s ‘Aetherial Worlds’. PopMatters. July 2018.
  29. We Go to William Trevor’s Works to Look for Ourselves and to Understand Others. PopMatters. June 2018.
  30. ‘The Storm’ has Heart, Urgency, and Ambition. PopMatters. June 2018.
  31. The Many Benefits of Travel: Paul Theroux’s Figures in a Landscape. PopMatters. June 2018.
  32. ‘Elements of Surprise’ and the Pleasures of Being Had. PopMatters. May 2018.
  33. Private Habits and Private Selves in Curtis Sittenfeld’s Short Stories. PopMatters. May 2018.
  34. The Intimate Politics of the Female Self in Danielle Lazarin’s ‘Back Talk’. PopMatters. April 2018.
  35. Did Women Writers Change the 20th-century New York Intellectual Scene? PopMatters. April 2018.
  36. The Pragmatic Sorcery of Madeline Miller’s ‘Circe’. PopMatters. April 2018.
  37. India’s ‘Bos Indicus’ Religion Is Explored In ‘The Milk Lady of Bangalore’. PopMatters. March 2018.
  38. On the Hidden Lives of Souvenirs in ‘Souvenir (Object Lessons)’. PopMatters. March 2018.
  39. Cycling Across Small-town India In Nautanki Diaries. The Aerogram. March 2018.
  40. The Promise of Redemption in ‘All the Names They Used for God’. PopMatters. February 2018.
  41. Appreciating the Wisdom of Ursula K Le Guin. The National Book Review. February 2018.
  42. ‘An Incisive Look at Race — And How We Should Be Talking About It’. The National Book Review. February 2018.
  43. The Good Immigrant’s UK Voices Resonate With Universal Themes.’ The Aerogram. October 2017.

New to my work? Check out my books and publications.

Reading Lists (14)

    1. Here are 19 books our critics are excited for this summer. NPR. May 2023.
    2. The Best Books of 2022—And What We’re Looking Forward to in 2023. Words Without Borders. December 2022.
    3. NPR’s Best Books 2022 (2nd Half): Books We Love. NPR. November 2022.
      1. The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra
      2. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
      3. Meet Us by the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy
      4. Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman
      5. When We Were Sisters by Fatima Asghar
    4. NPR’s Best Books 2022 (1st Half): Books We Love. NPR. June 2022.
      1. The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara
      2. In Sensorium by Tanaïs
      3. Mother Ocean, Father Nation by Nishant Batsha
    5. NPR’s Best Books 2021: Books We Love. NPR. November 2021.
      1. Silent Winds, Dry Seas by Vinod Busjeet
      2. The City of Good Death by Priyanka Champaneri
      3. The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro
      4. China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
      5. Taste Makers by Mayukh Sen
      6. Curb by Divya Victor
      7. Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria
    6. South Asian Literature in Translation: A Preview of Notable 2021 Titles. World Literature Today (Spring Issue.) March 2021.
    7. A Personal Anthology of 12 Work-themed Stories by Writers of South Asian Origin. A Personal Anthology by Jonathan Gibbs. March 2021.
    8. What to Read When You Want Story Collections About Working Lives. The Rumpus. September 2020.
    9. 10 Novels About Working Lives in India. Electric Literature. September 2020.
    10. API Heritage Month: Audiobook Recommendations. Libro.FM. May, 2020.
    11. #BalanceForBetter: A Short Reading List for International Women’s Day 2019. Scroll.in. March 2019.
    12. 20 Debut Works of Fiction by Women Over 40. Literary Hub. November 2018.
    13. Top 5 Stories That Shaped the World. BBC Culture. May 2018.
    14. ‘After ‘Dunkirk’, A Starter List of 10 Engaging Books (and a Bonus) on India’s Role in the Great Wars.’ Scroll.in. August 2017.



Looking for help? Check out my writing workshops and book consultation services.

Interviews (9; conducted by me with other writers and translators)

[Note: See Desi Books for many more such audio and text interviews. Also, see my #WAATSessions, video conversations about literary translation.]

  1. Dr. Sachin C. Ketkar: Into English: Sachin Ketkar on Bilingual Translation. Words Without Borders. March 2023.
  2. Dr. Tridip Suhrud: On Gandhi, Translation, and the Gujarati Intellectual Tradition. Words Without Borders. February 2023.
  3. Dr. Rita Kothari: On the Evolution and Craft of Gujarati Literature in Translation. Words Without Borders. December 2022.
  4. Anjali Enjeti: Politics and Possibility. Guernica Magazine. June 2021.
  5. The Hazards of Immersive Journalism: A Conversation with Sonia Faleiro. Los Angeles Review of Books. June 2021.
  6. South Asian Literature in Translation: interview series with 27 South Asian literary translators. Global Literature in Libraries Initiative. December 2020.
  7. Stories About the Worst Things Possible. Shruti Swamy on A House Is a Body. Electric Literature. August 2020.
  8. Take It Apart by the Seams: Vera Tobin on Your Brain on Fiction. PopMatters. May 2018.
  9. ‘Hope and Rebellion Are Inextricably Linked’. An Interview With Author Anjali Sachdeva. PopMatters. March 2018.

Short Stories Column (18; monthly; 2018-2020)

  1. Short Stories: Solitude and Loneliness. PopMatters. April 2020.
  2. Short Stories: Beginnings and Endings. PopMatters. January 2020.
  3. Short Stories: Siblings. PopMatters. July 2019.
  4. Short Stories: Later-life Relationships. PopMatters. May 2019.
  5. Short Stories: Journeys. PopMatters. April 2019.
  6. Short Stories: Animals Part II. PopMatters. March 2019.
  7. Short Stories: Animals. PopMatters. February 2019.
  8. Short Stories: Women in the Workplace. PopMatters. January 2019.
  9. Short Stories: The 12 Best Short Story Collections of 2018. PopMatters. December 2018.
  10. Short Stories: Parties. PopMatters. November 2018.
  11. Short Stories: American Writers of South Asian Origin. PopMatters. October 2018.
  12. Short Stories: Characters in Politics. PopMatters. September 2018.
  13. Short Stories: Women in Translation. PopMatters. August 2018.
  14. Short Stories: Refugees. PopMatters. July 2018.
  15. Short Stories: Surprises and Twists. PopMatters. June 2018.
  16. Short Stories: Fiction from ‘Sharp’ Women Writers Known for Their Non-fiction. PopMatters. May 2018.
  17. Short Stories: Casualties of War. PopMatters. April 2018.
  18. Short Stories: Souvenirs. PopMatters. March 2018.

Short Stories (15)

Online

  1. The Secret Lives of Yoga Instructors (introduced by Elizabeth McCracken). Electric Literature. September 2020.
  2. Disappointment. Jet Fuel Review. December 2017.
  3. Each of Us Killers. Kweli Journal. December 2017. [Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best American Short Stories]
  4. Her Solitary Domain. Five:2:One Magazine. May 2017.
  5. The Weight of His Bones. The Nottingham Review. March 2017.
  6. The Golden Amulet. Amazon’s Day One Literary Journal (Kindle). December 2016.
  7. The God of Wind. Gravel Magazine. December 2016.
  8. The Waiting. Lunch Ticket Amuse-Bouche: Spotlight. August 2016 [2017 Best of the Net Anthology Finalist]
  9. The Symphony of a Future Memory. York Literary Review. May 2016.
  10. Time and Opportunity. Litbreak. March 2016.

In Print

  1. Life Spring. Windmill: The Hofstra Journal of Literature and Art. May 2017.
  2. The Prize. Litro UK #160: Changes. March 2017.
  3. Mango Season. Eleven Eleven Journal. September 2016.
  4. Neeru’s New World. NonBinary Review. September 2016. [Nominated for the Pushcart Prize]
  5. The Plinko Watch. The Indian Quarterly. July 2016.

Literary Translations (5)

  1. ‘The Shehnai Virtuoso’ (an audio excerpt) by Dhumketu. Translated from Gujarati to English. Translators Aloud. November 2022.
  2. Crossroad (an excerpt) by Varsha Adalja. Translated from Gujarati to English. Words Without Borders. October 2022.
  3. ‘Light and Shade’ by Dhumketu. Translated from Gujarati to English. Asian Review of Books. October 2022.
  4. ‘Nameless’ by Dhumketu. Translated from Gujarati to English. Asymptote Journal. July 2021.
  5. ‘Rupali Ba’ by Jhaverchand Meghani. Translated from Gujarati to English. Waxwing Magazine. June 2020.

Other Publications (2)

  1. An Introduction to Writing Historical Fiction by Jenny Bhatt. Writing Workshops Dallas Blog. May 2022.
  2. Images as Writing Prompts. Writing Workshops Dallas Blog. April 2020.
Author picture

Jenny Bhatt is an author, a literary translator, and a book critic. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student of literature at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has taught creative writing at Writing Workshops Dallas and the PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship Program. Sign up for her free newsletters, We Are All Translators and/or Historical Fiction Craft Notes. Jenny lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Texas.

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