Afternoon Masala

“Dense with narrative details of a transnational life, these poems are suffused with a peculiarly Indian synesthesia—‘the air thick enough to bite, rinsing/ fingertips with color.’ Vandana Khanna, in her second prize-winning book, gives us a series of panoramic spectacles—children watching horror films in Delhi, Merle Oberon on her latest Bollywood film role, stolen lemons wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper. Colors and crime collide with the likes of Garbo and Rekha in this tender and smart collection of poems.”- Kazim Ali, author of Sky Ward and Bright Felon

""In Vandana Khanna's breathtaking volume, Afternoon Masala, Indian American identity comes of age within the hybrid, liminal space of cinema. Lit up by the spangled sashay of Bollywood films and the glittery paparazzi of the American red carpet, femininity and ethnicity are simultaneously revealed as complexly intertwined performances. Here, the allure of representation seduces the real, fleeting glimpses of which are recovered in the gorgeously fierce and musical lines of another tongue, while diaspora's nostalgia aches for spice and fire."" -Lee Ann Roripaugh, author of On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year