Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the writer and filmmaker Alina Gufran about her debut novel, No Place to Call My Own (Westland Tranquebar, January 2025).
Stories with self-aware but disillusioned millennial women protagonists are on the rise, and many of these characters, especially in recent Southasian literary fiction, are caught up in the messiness of late-capitalist life.
Through Sophia, a young woman navigating life and painful self-discovery across cities, No Place to Call My Own tackles issues related to class, religion and economic precarity. Unfolding against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, the 2020 Delhi riots, and a global pandemic, the novel questions what it means to fit in when apathy becomes a mode of survival.
Sophia’s journey is not just her own but that of any woman who finds themselves caught in between – unable to back down and refusing to conform – and who doesn’t quite feel rooted to one place or identity. Though the picture Alina Gufran paints of this generation may be grim, it will be immediately and uncomfortably relatable to anyone contending with what it means to belong in Urban India today.
This episode is now available on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Let’s keep the conversation going – please share your thoughts on the episode. If something resonated with you – or even challenged you – leave us a comment on Youtube or write to us at editorial@himalmag.com.
Episode notes and further reading:
No Place to Call My Own by Alina Gufran (Westland Tranquebar, January 2025)
‘Sound Recordist’ by Alina Gufran (Out of Print Magazine, February 2024)
‘Muslim is a Dirty Word’ by Alina Gufran (Jamhoor, October 2021)
End of the writing hiatus, shifting to Delhi and a book deal - Alina Gufran (Substack, August 2024)
Leela (2024) by Alina Gufran and Tanmay Chowdhary
Reading Arendt while India erupts: A young protestor reflects - Nidhi Suresh (Himal Southasian, January 2020)
Notes across borders: Personal reflections from Southasia under lockdown (Himal Southasian, April 2020)
Unmasking Southasia: A special series of articles on Southasia after COVID-19 (Himal Southasian, December 2020)
Southasia Review of Books podcast #05: Siddhartha Deb on India’s macabre new realities