In a suburb outside Cleveland, a community of Indian Americans straddle the divide between Eastern and Western cultures. Harit, a lonely immigrant in his mid forties, lives with his mother who can no longer function after the death of his sister, Swati. In a misguided attempt to keep both himself and his mother sane, Harit has taken to dressing up in a sari every night to pass himself off as his sister. Meanwhile, Ranjana, also an immigrant in her mid forties, has just seen her only child, Prashant, off to college. Worried that her husband has begun an affair, she seeks solace by writing paranormal romances in secret. When Harit and Ranjana’s paths cross, they begin a strange yet necessary friendship that brings to light their own passions and fears. "Affecting, kindhearted, and infectiously readable, No One Can Pronounce My Name is full of memorable characters joined by their yearning to belong," writes Maria Semple. Rakesh Satyal is the author of Blue Boy, winner of the 2010 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Debut Fiction and the 2010 Prose/Poetry Award from the Association of Asian American Studies. Satyal was a recipient of a 2010 Fellowship in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts and two fellowships from the Norman Mailer Writers' Colony. He is joined in discussion by acclaimed playwright and novelist Paul Rudnick, whose recent works include the essay collection I Shudder, and the young adult novels Gorgeous and It’s All Your Fault.
