AUTHOR EVENTS
March 27-29, 2025, “Beyond Large PR Budgets: Launching a Book and Reaching your Readers,” and “Can Writers “Live the Dream”?: On paying the bills while doing what you love,” (organizer for both panels and speaker), AWP Annual Convention, Los Angeles, CA
October 18, 2024, Keynote Event, “Origin Stories: Indigenous and Immigrant Voices of Orange County,” Word Fest OC, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, CA
May 30, 2024, “South Asian Diaspora in L.A/O.C.: Discussion and Reading by Namrata Poddar,” Cerritos Library, Cerritos, CA
March 2, 2024, Boca de Oro festival, “The Writer in the Journey: Rewards, Challenges, Purpose,” Frida Cinema, Santa Ana, CA
February 9, 2024, “Rewriting Motherhood, Reimagining Essential Labor” (panel organizer and speaker), AWP Annual Convention, Kansas City, MI
February 8, 2024, “Decolonizing American Literature: the Goals, Challenges, and Strategies of Write” (speaker), AWP Annual Convention, Kansas City, MI
May 9, 2023, Author Talk on “Border Less,” Ramona Convent Secondary School, Alhambra, California,
February 2023, Minorities in Publishing: Episode 25, in conversation with the Podcast host Jennifer Baker. You can listen to the conversation here: Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or Podcast Tumblr.
December 13, The Chills at Will Podcast, in conversation with host Peter Riehl. You can listen to the episode here (https://apple.co/3VUam5e) or watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/w-Ut0Zd83RQ and https://youtu.be/9HcR22mmEdQ
November 20, “Books Bual Bual in conversation with Namrata Poddar,” hosted by Elaine Chiew. You can watch the episode here: bit.ly/3gvBZlN
October 26, ““The Good Mother”: Namrata Poddar on the Emotional Labor of the Caregiver-Artist Bind,” in conversation with podcast host Kaitlin Solimine for Postpartum Production. You can here the episode here: https://www.postpartumproduction.com/episodes/13
September 21, Speaker for “Parivartan: the Transformation, Or Women’s Evolution in Contemporary Narratives,” The Story Project, DEVI. In Conversation with Haimnati Bagchi, Facebook Live. You can watch/hear the chat here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1067923950524526
September 12, Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai
September 7 & 8, Book-signings across bookshops in Mumbai including Crossword, Granth and Kitab Khana
September 3, 6.30 p.m., South Asian BOOK LAUNCH of “Border Less” at Title Waves Bookshop, Mumbai (India), In conversation with Vivek Tejuja
May 21, LibroMobile, 2-3 pm PST, Santa Ana, CA (in-person and IG Live)
May 7, 2.30-3.45 pm. Panel: “The Craft of Writing.” In conversation with Kate Gale, Deborah Lott, Pete Hsu’ moderated by Monica Fernandez; LitFest Pasadena, Pasadena, CA
April 30, 1-3 pm PST, Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (PIEAM), Long Beach, CA. Co-sponsored by English and Asian American Studies Departments, Asian American Studies Center and Gender Studies at UCLA and PIEAM.
April 12, 6 pm PST, Cerritos Library, Cerritos, CA
March 26, noon, PST, Irvine University Park Library, Irvine, CA
March 22: Prospect Street Readings—Other Stories, Other States (virtual), 7 pm EST; Bennington, Vermont. You can listen to the readings here: https://www.facebook.com/ProspectStreetReadings/videos/1115825679168193/
March 11: Charis Books (virtual), 4.30 pm PST, In conversation with Anjali Enjeti; Decatur, Georgia. You can watch the conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHkX5jAF6XY
March 10: Skylight Books Podcast Series, In conversation with Halley Parry. You can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7kPqnr4flcZueQBM8Rk8mX?si=qP_pnU4uSGuk9xysyTI__A&nd=1
March 5: 2022 Boca de Oro Festival, Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts, 3-4 pm PST, “South Asians in Southern California and New Immigrant Writing”— in conversation with Madhushree Ghosh, Santa Ana, CA.
March 1, 2022; 7-8 pm PST: BOOK LAUNCH at Chevalier’s Books, In conversation with Aline Ohanesian, Los Angeles, CA.
February 27, 2022: Lifeforce Radio. In conversation with radio host Shilpa Agarwal. Re-run on March 6, 2022. {You can listen to the recording on most podcasting platforms including Spotify, Apple and Google; here’s a link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/becoming-border-less/id1481846207?i=1000553627538)
Border Less: Booklaunch at Chevalier’s Books:
Reading at 2022 Boca de Oro Literary Festival:
In Conversation with author, host and co-contributor to “The Best Asian Stories” anthology, Elaine Chiew for “Books Bual Bual”:
In Conversation with author Anjali Enjeti at Charis Books:
Click on the image below to watch the episode:
OTHER READINGS/TALKS
Talk and reading from my forthcoming debut novel, Border Less, for “Indian Ocean Ecologies of Relation,” for a transnational group of creatives and scholars whose work features the Indian Ocean region. Panel convened by Kirk Sides (University of Bristol), Emmanuel Bruno Jean-Francois and Neelima Jeychandran (Pennsylvania State University), Pedro Machado (Indiana University, Bloomington) and Smriti Srinivas (University of California, Davis), August 2021 (virtual event).
“Brown Motherhood”: curated a conversation, spoke and read my work with 4 writers of South Asian diaspora (Sonora Jha, Shilpa Agarwal, Usha Reena Rungoo and Gayatri Sethi), Libro Mobile, Santa Ana, in collaboration with Poets & Writers, May 2021 (virtual event)
Reading from and discussion on my forthcoming debut novel, Border Less, and a lecture on South Asian diasporas, Asian American Studies Department, UCLA, April 2021 (virtual event)
Reading my translation (French to English) of Ananda Devi’s short story, “The Sad Ambassador” at book launch of “I Even Regret Night: Holi Songs of Demerara” (Kaya Press, 2019), written by Lalbihari Sharma and translated by Rajiv Mohabir at Other Books, Los Angeles, March 2019
Reading of my short fiction, "Ladies Special" and roundtable on creative writing, hybrid forms, publishing and literary gatekeeping with local authors Aline Ohanesian and Roxanne Varzi, "Hybridity as Resistance: Storytelling through Diverse Arts," for Women's History Month, LibroMobile, Santa Ana, March 2018
Participant in the panel "Navigating the publishing industry as a South Asian writer," South Asian Art Week, University of California, Los Angeles, May 2017
Reading of my short story, "Excursion," Andrew W. Mellon Reunion Conference titled 'Minor Transnationalism 2.0,' UCLA, May 2017
Reading of my short story, "Ladies Special," UC-AFT Professional Showcase, UCLA, February 2017
“Orality and the use of Vernacular in Contemporary Multiethnic Short Fiction” Bennington College, Graduate Lecture, MFA residency, June 2016
Reading of my short fiction, “Blue and Brown” and “Kundalini” (my short stories), Bennington College, Graduate Reading, MFA residency, June 2016
Reading of Roxane Gay’s short story “The Harder They Come” in Ayiti , World Lit Café, Bennington MFA residency, January 2016
Reading of my short story “Silk Stole” (my short story), Annual Mellon Postdoctoral Reunion Conference titled ‘Worlding the Minor: Poetics of Distant Relations,’ UCLA, March 2015
“Introduction to the Modern Short Story” Mittal College & Mittal Institute of Management, I.T. and Research, Mumbai, India, December 2014
CONFERENCES
As Moderator and Speaker:
“MFA or PhD vs WOC.” AWP Annual Convention, San Antonio March 2020
“Crafting the untold Tale,” conference panel for Centering the Margins: Conversations with Writers of Color, UC, San Diego and San Diego Central Library, March 1-3, 2019
“Contemporary Multi-ethnic American Fiction: Obsessions and Innovations” and “New Directions in Postcolonial Writing: A Passage through South Asia.” AWP Annual Convention, Los Angeles, April 2016
As Speaker/Panelist:
“Asian, American, and in-between: storytelling beyond the white gaze.” AWP Annual Convention, San Antonio March 2020
“Mining the Everyday: Using Real Life Experiences as Creative Research.” AWP Annual Convention, Portland, March 2019
“Inheriting the Future: Cross-pollinations of Race and Translation” Roundtable Speaker, The American Literary Translators’ Association 39: Translations and Crossings, Oakland, California, October 6-9, 2016
"Orality, Identity, and Contemporary Multiethnic Short Story" 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English. Theme: Influence and Confluence in the Short Story: East and West. East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, July 2016
“Oceanic Studies, Nautical Geneses, and a Mauritian Poetics of Sea Vessels” Annual Mellon Conference titled ‘Global Circuits, Interrupted,’ UCLA, May 2012
“Ecopoetics, Geopoetics and the Beach in Francophone Island Literature” Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Seattle, January 2012
“Paradise, Parody or Paradox? : The Beach, Ecology and Place in Postcolonial Island Literature” Annual Mellon Conference titled ‘Itinerant Affiliations,’ UCLA, April 2011
“Historicizing the Playground: The Beach and Empire in Postcolonial Island Literature” Annual Conference of Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, Institut Français, London, November 2010, and International conference on Caribbeanness, Creoleness, and World literature at Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, October 2010
“Paradise, Parody or Paradox? : The Beach in the Contemporary Mauritian Novel” International conference titled ‘La Culture de l'île Maurice: Entre Mots et Images,’ Mauritius, June 2009
International conference titled ‘Indicities/Ind(o)ices: Hybridity in Indian Ocean Literature,’ Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, April 2009
“Another Poetics of the Boat: Travel, History and Insularity in Mauritian Fiction” Second International Women-in-French Conference, University of North Texas, April 2008
“The Islands Within: Repeating Alterity in Contemporary Mauritian Fiction” International conference on Ananda Devi and contemporary Mauritian women writers, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, November-December 2007
“L’hybridité dysphorique dans l’Aventure Ambiguë” International conference titled ‘Boundaries and Limits of Post-colonialism: Anglophone, Francophone, Global.’ Florida State University, November--December 2006
“The Oriental Discourse in Marcel Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu” Annual GRA Colloquium, and Annual Graduate Humanities Forum Conference, University of Pennsylvania, March 2004