I write and speak about open transracial adoption from the adoptive-parent-of-color side. I’m a Tamil American essayist and author, a brown mother raising white children, in contact with both birth families since 2010. Most transracial-adoption panels are built around white adoptive parents, adult adoptees, and birth parents; I fill the seat they usually miss, and I can speak to what an open adoption looks like at year sixteen rather than year one. I bring the same economy and candor to the stage that characterizes my essays.
Topics
- Transracial adoption from the adoptive-parent-of-color perspective: race, identity, and what families look like from outside and inside
- Open adoption over the long arc: sixteen years with both birth families, and what changes between year one and year fifteen
- South Asian American life, immigration, and the hyphenated self
- Writing memoir and personal essays: form, ethics, and what to put on the page
- The stories we inherit and the ones we have to find ourselves
- Documentary storytelling and collaborative authorship (in conversation with Love Chaos Kin director Chithra Jeyaram)
Past Appearances
Broadcast: NPR’s The Takeaway · BBC Asia Big Debate · BBC Radio UK · LAJA TV
Print & Online: The Week India · The Hindu · Huffington Post · Adoptive Families · Motherwell Magazine · Verve India · PopSugar · Indian Express · Financial Express
Literary & Cultural Festivals: CAAMFest 2025 (Love Chaos Kin premiere) · Prabha Khaitan Foundation · Oxford Book Stores
Books
The Smudged Hyphen (2026) · Hindsight (2024) · A Star Keeps Its Distance (2026) · Why Is My Hair Curly? (2020)
Inquiries
I’m available for panels, keynotes, festival conversations, and podcast interviews, virtual or in person.
For speaking engagements, festival appearances, podcast conversations, and panel invitations, use the contact form.