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Kiran Desai links father’s death to ‘losing India’
Indian American author reflects on grief, food and family while discussing her latest book in Kerala.
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Pranavi Sharma - Sat, 24, Jan 2026
- 04:10 EST
- 40
Kiran Desai at Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode / New Indian Abroad
Indian American author Kiran Desai said the death of her father felt like “losing India,” an experience that shaped her new novel ‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’, during a discussion on the sidelines of the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode, Kerala, on Jan. 23.
Speaking during a panel discussion about the book, Desai said she had changed over time and needed to “live some life” before she could write certain scenes. She pointed to the illness and death of a character’s father in the novel, calling it a defining experience. When her own father died, she said, “I also felt as if I was losing India in a way.”
ALSO READ: Kiran Desai examines patriotism through immigration and race
Desai said her father’s presence in Delhi had long anchored her sense of home. She recalled how, for as long as he sat on the terrace of his house in Delhi, she felt she could still return. The book, she said, carries the passage of generations, from grandparents and parents to Sonia and Sunny, and reflects her feeling that “something very precious about India is being lost with this older generation passing.”
She described that generation as people born in British India who had lived through sweeping change and often lived by strong principles. Speaking about her father, she recalled him wearing a poncho bought during travels in Latin America, sitting on his rooftop in winter and listening loudly to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Noor Jahan etc. She said the book is dedicated to him because she “owe[s] him that connection, continuing connection to India which allowed me to write this book.”
Desai also spoke at length about food, which she said sits at the center of the novel. She recalled that daily life revolved around deciding what to eat and described food as a way of revealing family culture, class and upbringing. Writing about food, she said, exposes how westernized a family is, what mixtures appear on the table and even table manners. She also described scenes in the book involving cooks, family deaths and the cultural disorientation of eating abroad, including a character’s anger at having to eat plain cheese pizza.
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