Outspoken-ish Bids Farewell
August does this to us. Makes us feel like things are beginning, or ending, or beginning to end. You get the drift and might know of the feeling as birthday blues. But T & I, not the greatest fans of linear time, feel it to be deeper, thicker - that it has something to do with our identities as writers, as women, coming full circle. And so it is that Outspoken-ish, our little (news)letter of love project comes full circle, meeting its end at the end of two years of its existence.
We’d like to mark the moment with a big thank you to all of you who believed in us, read our dispatches, liked and not-so liked them, commented on them - all of you who subscribed and engaged. You made us write - dare we say better and better - each month, as we imagined ideas and themes that spoke to the outspoken-ish nature of Outspoken-ish, wrote and rewrote drafts, brainstormed over visuals and layouts, before pressing that ‘Schedule’ button.
We wrote about adulting, the pain women endure, and artists finding drama in trauma, the politics of joy and festivities, the unreal experience of being on Zoom for extended periods, the changes COVID brought and didn’t bring, the race to show the ‘real India’ on film and TV, among other topics.
We waited to find out what spoke to you the most, what drew you in - that was real anticipation.
We discovered each other too, T & I, as writers and women - how we do what we do, what we deploy to navigate our worlds and realities, what gives us joy, what we read, how we write, the nuances of being thrilled, seeking amusement, and feeling rage. For this too, we are grateful to you - you made our half-baked idea of “doing something together, let’s” very very real.
As Outspoken-ish bids farewell, we ‘re not done of course. Just this year, T published a short story about loneliness, womanhood, and miracles in a special issue of the magazine Shuddhashar and an essay on unreliable, ethically dubious, and perplexing characters in the South Asian Avant-Garde. P interviewed Pico Iyer about his new book The Half Known Life for the LA Review of Books, a poignant and light conversation about the themes in his book and Van Morrison too.
If you’d like to stay in touch with our work and know what we’re up to, T is completing a long writing project (‘a novel’). She also has two edited books out this summer–one on the relation of fiction and fact with storytelling and the other on contemporary digital literature. You can learn more about her work by following T at: @TorsaG (Twitter), @torsa_ghosal (Instagram), and her website: torsaghosal.com. P’s recently wrapped up a non-fiction manuscript on the topic of compassion, slated for a 2024 release, and is already dreaming of her next book. You can follow P at: @derrindo (Twitter) and @poojapande08 (Instagram).
It’s the beginning of new endings and even newer beginnings, as we all continue to live, love and (hopefully) laugh in media res.
Until next time!