We are thrilled to announce that Deepa Rajagopalan’s debut collection of short stories, PEACOCKS OF INSTAGRAM has sold to Shirarose Wilensky at House of Anansi Press (World)!
Deepa Rajagopalan was the winner of the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award for the title story in the collection.
In the title story, “Peacocks Of Instagram”, a modest and under-appreciated server in a coffee shop attracts tens of thousands of followers on social media with her peacock jewelry, and turns around the fortunes of her workplace with her indomitable spirit. In “Love-in-Tokyo,” a foster child, orphaned in an accident directly attributable to climate change, brings down her foster father, a lobbyist on behalf of the oil industry, in spectacular fashion. In “Singing for the Gods,” the elderly, all-powerful, and bigoted lead vocalist and choirmaster at the temple drastically miscalculates, and falls from grace in her attempt to discredit her heir-apparent when the younger singer announces her pending marriage to a member of a lower caste.
Filled with the dilemmas, heartbreak, and joys of diasporic Indians, the abundant colours, flavours, and religions of the Motherland, and characters so real that readers share intimately their most devastating losses and soaring hopes and dreams, Deepa Rajagopalan’s PEACOCKS OF INSTAGRAM will appeal to readers of Souvankham Thammavongsa’ HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE – who has said that PEACOCKS OF INSTAGRAM is “the debut of a major new writer” – and celebrated author, Madeleine Thien’s first collection of short stories, SIMPLE RECIPES.
In deftly fresh ways, Deepa’s characters defy the standard tropes used to express immigrant experiences, and greet them with wit and humour. And, astute readers will notice and appreciate the subtle and affecting interweaving of the lives of the characters in Deepa’s stories.
Deepa Rajagopalan holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph, and a certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as Room Magazine, Arc Poetry Magazine, and the anthology The Unpublished City Vol II.
Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Deepa moved to India as an adolescent, to California, and then to Toronto in her early twenties. She works in the tech industry, and currently lives in Guelph, Ontario.
Deal arranged by Marilyn Biderman and Chelene Knight.
Congratulations Deepa!