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Minal Hajratwala

ミナル・ハジラトワ

Minal Hajratwala

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1971 （San Francisco, California, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
San Francisco, California, USA → New Zealand (raised) → Suburban Michigan, USA (raised)

Career

Occupations
writer, performer, poet, activist, journalist, editor
Active Years
1990-
Affiliations
Sundance Institute (support/program participation), Jon Sims Center for the Arts (support/involvement), SerpentSource Foundation (support), Hedgebrook (writing retreat; Alumnae Leadership Council), Unicorn Authors Club (founder), National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (former board member)
Memberships
Hedgebrook Alumnae Leadership Council, National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (former member/board)

Education

Stanford University
Country: United States
Graduate of Stanford University (specific degree/year not specified)

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents

2009 memoir / nonfiction

A personal family memoir tracing the journey of Hajratwala's extended family from five villages to multiple continents. The author spent years researching and interviewing more than 75 relatives to reconstruct the family's migrations and histories.

migrationfamily historydiasporacultural identity

Out! Stories from The New Queer India (editor)

2010 anthology (editor)

An anthology collecting stories from the new queer India, with Hajratwala serving as editor. Publication details are limited in the provided source.

queerIndian literatureidentity

Bountiful Instructions for Enlightenment

2015 poetry / literary

A 2015 collection of poetic works exploring personal and spiritual inquiry, cultural memory, and related themes in short pieces and poems.

spiritualitymemoryself-exploration

Bibliography

  • Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents (2009)
  • Out! Stories from The New Queer India (editor) (2010)
  • Bountiful Instructions for Enlightenment (2015)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
introspective, conversational voicememoiristic and narrative nonfictionlyric prose
Recurring Motifs
family memorymigration and diasporacultural belonging and identityqueer self-expression

Legacy

Known for the family memoir Leaving India, Hajratwala is a notable voice in South Asian American and queer literature. Through her writing, performance and activism she has contributed to conversations about multicultural identity and gender/sexuality.

Quotes

  • "incomparable"
    Source: Praise by Alice Walker (about Leaving India) (2009)
  • "searingly honest"
    Source: The Washington Post (book review of Leaving India) (2009)

Trivia

  • Founder of the Unicorn Authors Club, a writing community supporting authors of color.
  • Commissioned by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for a one-woman show 'Avatars: Gods for a New Millennium' for World AIDS Day 1999.
  • Worked approximately eight years as a journalist at the San Jose Mercury News.
  • National Arts Journalism Program fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism (2000–01).