{"id":6474,"date":"2015-06-24T18:42:11","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T22:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/?page_id=6474"},"modified":"2025-12-28T14:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:22:47","slug":"anita-anand","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/anita-anand\/","title":{"rendered":"Anita Anand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Anita Anand was born in Montreal and lives there today where she is an author, translator and language teacher. She has lived in the Bronx, England, and Richmond, B.C. Her first novel, Swing in the House and Other Stories<\/em> is told in a series of vignettes. Anand was a finalist for the CBC’s Quebec Writing Competition in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Convergence of Solitudes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Book*Hug Press, 2022.
PS8601.N28 C66 2022<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A story of identity, connection and forgiveness, A Convergence of Solitudes<\/em> shares the lives of two families across Partition of India, Operation Babylift in Vietnam, and two referendums in Quebec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunil and Hima, teenage lovers, bravely defy taboos in pre-Partition India to come together as their country divides in two. They move across the world to Montreal and raise a family, but Sunil shows symptoms of schizophrenia, shattering their newfound peace. As a teenager, their daughter Rani becomes obsessed with Quebecois supergroup Sensibilit\u00e9\u2014and, in particular, the band\u2019s charismatic, nationalistic frontman, Serge Giglio\u2014whose music connects Rani to the province\u2019s struggle for cultural freedom. A chance encounter leads Rani to babysit M\u00e9lanie, Serge\u2019s adopted daughter from Vietnam, bringing her fleetingly within his inner circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later, Rani, now a college guidance counselor, discovers that M\u00e9lanie has booked an appointment to discuss her future at the school. Unmoved by her father\u2019s staunch patriotism and her British mother\u2019s bourgeois ways, M\u00e9lanie is struggling with deep uncertainty about her identity and belonging. As the two women\u2019s lives become more and more intertwined, Rani\u2019s fascination with M\u00e9lanie\u2019s father\u2019s music becomes a strange shadow amidst their friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2022 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Literary Award for Fiction <\/a>(Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Short stories)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Swing in the House and Other Stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Montreal: Esplanade Books, 2015.
<\/a>PS8601 .N28 S95 2015<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Swing in the House<\/em> paints an utterly contemporary portrait of Canadian families in their most private moments. Anand pulls back the curtains to reveal the unspoken complexities within the modern home, from sibling rivalries to fracturing marriages, casual racism to damaged egos, hidden homosexuality to mental illness. Each of these stories offers a deftly-constructed morality play. In the novella-length title story, a young mother timidly explores the possibilities of an affair to alleviate the suffocation of a loveless marriage, to detrimental effect. In \u201cIndelible Markers,\u201d a girl vacationing in Greece learns that growing up with a schizophrenic father has affected her relationships with men. In \u201cSomething Steady,\u201d a lonely, mentally challenged teen vents his anger on a co-worker\u2019s boyfriend. Throughout, Anand\u2019s incisive intelligence, sharp prose, and sly wit infuse dark undercurrents into these seventeen cautionary tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2015 Concordia University First Book Prize–Quebec Writers’ Federation<\/a> (Winner)
2016 Relit Award for Fiction (Finalist)
2016 Montreal Literary Diversity Prize (Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Book*hug Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher V\u00e9hicule Press<\/a>, of which Esplanade Books is the fiction imprint<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anita Anand was born in Montreal and lives there today where she is an author, translator and language teacher. She has lived in the Bronx, England, and Richmond, B.C. Her first novel, Swing in the House and Other Stories is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6474","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6474"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21072,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6474\/revisions\/21072"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}