Jeed Saddy performs this dazzling debut essay collection from author Neema Avashina. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss the essays, which explore Avashia’s experience growing up as a queer Indian American woman in West Virginia. Identities are messy, and Saddy’s narration captures the emotional complexity of Avashia’s life. As we follow Avashia through basketball games and Hindu holidays, Saddy imbues her performance with all of the tenderness and hope that Avashia has for her hometown and the people who helped make her who she is today.

Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Tantor Media.

Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com

Behind the Mic is supported by Brilliance Publishing who recently released The Survivalists, a sharp, funny novel by Kashana Cauley. An ambitious Black lawyer has dreams of making partner, until she falls for a coffee entrepreneur and moves into his Brooklyn brownstone with his doomsday-prepping roommates. Packed with tension, curiosity and optimized soy protein bars, The Survivalists is a darkly funny novel by Kashana Cauley, a former writer for The Daily Show and Pod Save America.

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