Who is welcome in America? It’s the abiding question explored by author Rishi Reddi in her critically-acclaimed novel, Passage West. Reddi joins Alta Asks Live and host Heather Scott Partington to discuss her new book, the complexities of the migrant experience in California and beyond, and much more.
Buy the book: Passage West
About the book and the author
A sweeping saga set in rural California at the onset of World War I, Passage West relates the story of a Punjabi family, their Mexican in-laws, and their Japanese neighbors during an era of rising xenophobia.
Rishi Reddi is the author of the novel Passage West and the collection Karma and Other Stories, which received the 2008 L. L. Winship /PEN New England Award for fiction. Her work appears in Best American Short Stories, has been broadcast on National Public Radio, and was chosen for honorable mention in the Pushcart Prize. She was born in Hyderabad, India, and grew up in Great Britain and the United States. She lives in Cambridge, MA.
Heather Scott Partington is a writer, teacher, and book critic. She is the winner of an emerging critic fellowship from the National Book Critics Circle and the critic in residence for UC Riverside’s Palm Desert MFA program. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles Review of Books among other publications. She lives in Elk Grove, California, with her husband and two kids.
