Why I Turned to Fiction

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: The Story Prize

 

Since Brick Walls has been published I’ve had the opportunity to visit a lot of cities and give a lot of talks. I’ve spoken to a diverse audience about my interfaith work, my article writing, my non-profit consulting. The most frequent question I get asked, though, is why I decided to write fiction. I’ve been writing for years, and it’s mostly been boring, technical, non-creative work. Where did the sudden urge to write not one but seven short stories come from?

Why Write? To Save the World Perhaps

By Shane Fernandez

I have been a writer since the day I could hold pen to paper. That was some twenty years ago, and I wouldn't even remember it if it wasn't for my proud Indian mother taking a picture with her Polaroid camera when I wrote my first words. It was just my own name, in clumsy childish, handwriting, but Ma was proud nonetheless. The picture has since then been lost, but my mother's pride, and my own love of writing has only gotten stronger.