'I Want Readers To Be Delighted' Sonora Jha
Born in India, Sonora Jha worked as a journalist in that country and in Singapore as a journalist covering crime, politics and culture. Since 2003, she’s taught journalism in Seattle.
Her third book, “Intemperance,” was released on Oct. 14. She’ll be the guest at a Northwest Passages book club event on Friday.
Jha's Previous Books
Foreign: Published April 2013 in India
Jha’s first novel is set in rural India. From the publisher’s synopsis: “Whipped up in a world of violent protest rallies, mass weddings, inglorious suicides, and a love that demands to be rekindled, Katya Misra must learn whose life can be saved and whose she should just let go.”
- Imported copies were in short supply in the U.S. until 2015 or so.
- A finalist for the Shakti Bhatt Prize and the Hindu Literary Prize
- Long listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
- Jha’s former employer, the Hindu newspaper of Chennai, wrote: “In Jha’s brilliantly honed novel of lust and retribution in the corridors of American academia, the hijab is both a flag and a banner of selfhood that seduces and repels in equal measure.”
How To Raise A Feminist Son: Published April 6, 2021
This one’s not a novel — its a memoir. From the publisher’s synopsis: “This book follows the struggles and triumphs of one single, immigrant mother of color to raise an American feminist son ... ‘How to Raise a Feminist Son’ shows us all how to be better feminists and better teachers of the next generation of men in this electrifying tour de force.”
- The book “has practical to-do lists about how to tackle some of the hardest conversations,” wrote NPR.
- This book “explores race, gender, pop culture and power dynamics, and consistently acknowledges the imperfections inherent in pursuing ideals,” wrote the Seattle Times. “Sonora Jha encourages readers to embrace the difficulties and the joys simultaneously.”
- Ms. magazine wrote: “Jha has written a beautiful and honest ode to imperfect parents everywhere who are trying to raise kind, compassionate, confident feminist sons.”
The Laughter: Published Feb. 14, 2023
“Dr. Oliver Harding, a tenured professor of English, is long settled into the routines of a divorced, aging academic. But his quiet, staid life is upended by his new colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a dynamic Pakistani Muslim law professor. Ruhaba unexpectedly ignites Oliver’s long-dormant passions, a secret desire that quickly tips towards obsession ...”
- Winner of the Washington State Book Award.
- “Why, in our era of increased consciousness around issues of race, xenophobia and misogyny, do we need another book from the point of view of a sex-obsessed straight white man?,” asked the New York Times. “Because ‘The Laughter’ is not just any book from such a perspective —
it’s a no-holds-barred comic achievement that lambastes the power structures keeping men like Oliver skulking the halls of academe.”
About Sonora Jha
Born in India, Jha had a successful career as chief of the Metro Bureau and a special correspondent for the Times of India before moving to Singapore and then the United States to earn a Ph.D. in political communication at Louisiana State University in 2004.
She is now a professor of journalism and the chair of the Department of Communication at Seattle University. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, on the BBC, and in and literary anthologies.
Her Latest Novel, 'Intemperance'
“After writing my previous novel, I felt the urge to write a love story, Jha told Publisher’s Weekly.
“I started writing close to my own skin, about a woman who finds herself single in middle age, wondering if she even cares about matters like love. I landed on the idea of a swayamvar, which comes from Hindu mythology, where princesses and goddesses would make men perform feats to win their hands in marriage. What if this aging heroine decided to hold such a competition in present-day Seattle?”
“I want readers to be delighted,” she told Writers Digest. “I want them to surreder to a dream-like state that I wanted to craft in the storytelling, and I want them to have conversations around love, the bliss of female solitude and the celebration of a fiendishly playful feminism."
Intemperance was released Oct. 14.
- “It’s a fresh and sassy take on romantic comedy conventions,” wrote Publishers Weekly.
- “Jha uses her heroine to discuss specific issues that become universal. Despite the absurdity around her, the heroine remains certain of herself and true to herself, to her benefit and detriment. Her sense of inner peace grounds the narrative.” wrote Kirkus Reviews.
- “Imbued with warmth and wit, ‘Intemperance’ both satirizes and honors the search for love in middle age.” wrote the Seattle Times.