Novelist, journalist, and literary critic Parul Kapur honored with Pattis Family Foundation Creative Arts Book Award
In a ceremony at Traverse City’s Alluvion last week, Pattis accepted an award for her work on "Inside the Mirror."
When Parul Kapur opens her mouth to speak, she does so with the gravity and grace of a woman who has traveled far and wide—both around the world and through the depths of her imagination. Her latest novel, Inside the Mirror, reflects her experiences of global travel and exploration, while honoring her own family and heritage. The book was recently honored by Interlochen with the Pattis Family Foundation Creative Arts Book Award in a ceremony at Traverse City’s Alluvion. In an interview, Kapur shared insights on the process of writing, her search for creative identity, and how curiosity and travel have shaped her perspectives.
Kapur was born in Assam, India. She spent her early childhood between Bombay, Calcutta, and New Delhi, and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was seven. Her novel is the story of twin sisters, both artists, who grow up in 1950s Bombay. One sister is an aspiring painter; the other desires to be a classical dancer, and craves participation in the burgeoning modern art movement in her city.
Growing up in the United States, Kapur had experienced feelings of alienation at her high school.
“There were no people of color except us and a group of African American students from Bridgeport, Connecticut,” she remembers. “I felt like an outsider in a way. Writing gave me a little world of my own. I felt some kind of power there that I was creating.”
Kapur went on to graduate from Wesleyan University with a degree in English, and she also holds an MFA from Columbia University. As her creative writing thesis, Kapur composed a collection of ten short stories. She was somewhat surprised to realize that all of her stories were set in India. An idea was sparked, and Kapur began to pursue it.
As a journalist, Kapur has a gift for connecting with others and finding ways to weave their stories into cohesive narratives. When she began to write Inside the Mirror, she realized she needed to turn to her family for support. Her father, who grew up long before the rise of smartphone use, was willing to share many details about his home country. She also spoke with her grandmother, Shakuntala Dewan, who provided detailed genealogical descriptions. For Kapur, returning to her roots reminded her that no matter how far you go from home, a part of you always remains.
“I discovered that my heart and mind are still in India,” she says.
In her writing, Kapur finds herself drawn into her own interior world, where she can imagine anything she likes and turn it into a story.
“I think of the ‘mirror’ in the title of my book as art,” she says. “I think about what is happening inside the artist's life when the artwork is created. When I was young I would sometimes stare at myself in the mirror and question who I was, because I was very internally driven—living in my head and my fantasies.”
She channelled that feeling of the struggle for creative identity into her novel. In the place and time period in which Inside the Mirror is set, young women did not always enjoy a privileged place in society.
“Your marriage would likely be arranged for you,” she says. “If you became an artist, you had to join a male artist’s group. Then you were stepping outside the pale so far that your parents could not arrange your marriage. If they couldn't arrange your marriage, your whole position in society fell, and so did theirs, and everyone talked about you as a wayward girl.”
In speaking with students at Interlochen Arts Academy last week, Kapur drew on her own courage to inspire their successes as young artists.
“ You need some community during your educational path,” she says. “Students at Interlochen already have that, as a result of being around other artists. They're finding their groups and that helps them to establish their own creative identities.”
Speaking of things she wishes she’d done differently, she recollects a time when she prioritized her domestic life above writing, opting to forgo a several-month trip to India.
“I would've easily found people to interview there,” she says. “I would encourage young people to invest in themselves as artists, whether it's money or time. Look at your life and ask, ‘What is keeping me from completing or doing this project?’ Dare to take those risks, invest in yourself, and make those demands for yourself in your life.”
Interlochen Arts Academy is the nation’s premier boarding arts high school, where emerging artists transform passion and potential into purpose. Students pursue pre-professional training in music, dance, theatre, visual arts, creative writing, interdisciplinary arts, and film alongside a robust academic curriculum, preparing them to excel in the arts and beyond.
