Strangers in a Strange Land

There are many ways to be made to feel like an outsider. In Rahul Bhattacharya’s Railsong a transplant to the big city of Bombay learns to find her footing — and sense of self — navigating the train lines that criss-cross the city and country. While in A. Igoni Barrett’s satirical Whyteface, a Nigerian man who has woken up white experiences Europe differently, asking himself what it means to be African outside Africa. And in Ananda Devi’s All Flesh (translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman), a young girl’s body itself becomes a source of ridicule and estrangement. How does one reconcile these alien worlds? Moderated by Andy Tepper, curator of international literature at City of Asylum in Pittsburgh.