Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu

It wasn’t until college that I started writing original stories with my own made up characters. As a teenager I wrote fanfiction using other people’s characters. When I was young I’d write stories inserting myself into the shows and books I liked. To me, Tamil, my native-language, is the language of poetry, but English is the language of narrative.

SJ Sindu: I’ve been writing since I was seven years old, since I learned English. When did you begin writing, and what was the journey to publication like for you? Congratulations!Īlthough this is your first novel, you also have a hybrid fiction & nonfiction chapbook, which came out last year. Crystal Hana KimĬrystal Hana Kim: Your debut novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies, was published this month. In our interview, I spoke to SJ Sindu about why she wrote this story, modern arranged marriages, the Sri Lankan War, and her writing journey. SJ Sindu’s debut novel, recently published by Soho Press, explores South Asian queer identity in America, the struggle between community acceptance and authenticity to self, and the boundaries of familial love. But what happens when Lucky must return home, and when she discovers her first lover, Nisha, is getting an arranged marriage? In her marriage of convenience, her family doesn’t have to know about her sexual identity and she can date who she wants without judgment from her Tamil community.

When I received an early copy of Marriage of a Thousand Lies (June 2017, Soho Press), I was immediately intrigued by the novel’s premise-Lucky is a queer Sri Lankan woman with a gay husband.

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu