In October, Neha Kamdar, an English teacher at Branson, was awarded the 2023 Narrative Prize by the Narrative Magazine. The recognition of her piece, an excerpt from her novel, Kartika, is an outstanding accomplishment as the magazine accepts less than 1% of all submissions.
The Narrative is an international magazine which operates out of San Francisco. At the end of each year they give a prize to one work of fiction that has been published over the year in their journal.
“It’s not necessarily something you apply for. It is just a committee of editors who decide on a work they want to recognize,” said Kamdar. “I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about my recognition.”
The piece was the first three chapters of a novel she has been writing for the past several years. The story draws in many of Kamdar’s passions into the plot.
“I’m from India, so all the fiction that I write is typically set in India. I also just love writing about women,” said Kamdar. “As a woman myself and someone who grew up with two sisters and a single mom, those are the relationships I know and really understand.”
Film also plays a large part in the storyline, a topic well known to Kamdar as it was the focus of her graduate and masters studies.
“The story also goes on to get really political which is another area of interest for me,” Kamdar said. “I think having family from my partner’s side who have worked in politics in India, hearing their stories, and building that sort of personal portrait of the industry inspired me.”
The creativity that abounds from her passions and lived experiences helped her to develop the plot.
“There are various disparate places that the story comes from, but then ultimately it’s fiction and all completely made up. However, I think the only thing that hopefully rings true is how the city is represented and the historical details that show up in the novel as it progresses.”
While her writing journey may come across as an inspired and constant flow of ideas, Kamdar admitted it was actually the “hardest thing [she] has ever done.” She explained how the writing process can take several years and for her novel, which is particularly long, it is incredibly difficult.
“I have been working on it on and off for the past several years. During the pandemic I had just finished a draft of the entire novel and realized I needed to take a step back for a year or two. That is when I joined Branson,” said Kamdar. “So the timing just worked out perfectly for me. Now, this has been my moment of starting to get back into my fiction in sort of a full-fledged way that feels really exciting.”
Prior to joining Branson, Kamdar was in a fellowship where it was her full-time job to write. However, the writing process has shifted for her as she now works as an English teacher in addition to pursuing her novel.
“It almost feels like I am trying to do two jobs, one of which I am fully accountable to myself for. It’s really difficult to find the time to write when the school year is on,” said Kamdar. “But I went away for a few weeks during the summer and worked on my writing. It was so nice and such a luxury.”
Writing a novel is a complex and extensive pursuit, but Kamdar hopes to finish in about a year or two. The incomplete novel has already received great recognition and reviews, won selective awards and drawn international attention, all before even reaching a publisher’s desk.
Kamdar is excited to finish Kartika and bring her novel into the hands of “anyone who likes good stories no matter where they are in the world.”
