On this, our first episode of The Substance of Influence episodes, David speaks with fiction writer and poet Chaya Bhuvaneswar, winner of the 2017 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize for her first book White Dancing Elephants.

They discuss authorial voice, being a reader and a writer, influence in general, direct influence in particular with Chaya's selection of the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and, of course, her wonderful collections of short stories. 

You can find Chaya and her work at  https://chayabhuvaneswar.com/ and on Twitter @chayab77 

As always you can find us here at http://www.booksofsomesubstance.com/  and on Twitter & Instagram: @booksosubstance