Namrata Poddar 🪷🪬
@namratapoddar.bsky.social
Author of BORDER LESS | Faculty at UCLA | Essays/nonfiction at Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Longreads, LA Times, etc.
Interests include Decolonial —> storytelling, parenting, yoga, healing.
Writing 2nd book, a memoir.
Intermittently here.
Interests include Decolonial —> storytelling, parenting, yoga, healing.
Writing 2nd book, a memoir.
Intermittently here.
A lil from my Fall syllabus cuz if you ask me, it’s always a good time to read Arundhati Roy, more so on rainy winter evenings like these. This via her collection of essays, “The End of Imagination,” published in 1998. What changed, I often wonder. Yet a reminder of so much we can.
November 18, 2025 at 2:20 AM
A lil from my Fall syllabus cuz if you ask me, it’s always a good time to read Arundhati Roy, more so on rainy winter evenings like these. This via her collection of essays, “The End of Imagination,” published in 1998. What changed, I often wonder. Yet a reminder of so much we can.
Literally every girlfriend and colleague today. Thanks for sharing, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, and reiterating for my desi community of STEM majors/advocates.
To the real DEI. 🤓🤎
To the real DEI. 🤓🤎
November 5, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Literally every girlfriend and colleague today. Thanks for sharing, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, and reiterating for my desi community of STEM majors/advocates.
To the real DEI. 🤓🤎
To the real DEI. 🤓🤎
May your path exude light and abundance.
Diwali and New Year greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽❤️
Diwali and New Year greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽❤️
October 20, 2025 at 3:07 PM
May your path exude light and abundance.
Diwali and New Year greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽❤️
Diwali and New Year greetings to all marking the moment. 🙏🏽❤️
birthday month’s highlight will never not be my lil guy & libra twin meanwhile this tee gift (with role models & the sun goddess aka TriShakti) & musings just becuz.
september, we’ll miss you! ♎️🌀
september, we’ll miss you! ♎️🌀
September 30, 2025 at 9:09 PM
birthday month’s highlight will never not be my lil guy & libra twin meanwhile this tee gift (with role models & the sun goddess aka TriShakti) & musings just becuz.
september, we’ll miss you! ♎️🌀
september, we’ll miss you! ♎️🌀
I’m excited to offer this workshop @pw.org in October, & work with writers unbacked by large wallets, on ways to reach their readers.
Fee waivers available for writers underrepresented in publishing. & a discounted fee for all, if you enroll by September 7. Join me. 🤎
www.pw.org/content/work...
Fee waivers available for writers underrepresented in publishing. & a discounted fee for all, if you enroll by September 7. Join me. 🤎
www.pw.org/content/work...
August 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I’m excited to offer this workshop @pw.org in October, & work with writers unbacked by large wallets, on ways to reach their readers.
Fee waivers available for writers underrepresented in publishing. & a discounted fee for all, if you enroll by September 7. Join me. 🤎
www.pw.org/content/work...
Fee waivers available for writers underrepresented in publishing. & a discounted fee for all, if you enroll by September 7. Join me. 🤎
www.pw.org/content/work...
Morning walk today. The ancestors said, abundance is our natural state. But I was taught for much of my education to reject everything they said, even if mama Nature confirms otherwise.
And while this migrant knows Return is a fantasy, these days, I re-member, I reconsider, I reintegrate. 🪷🌳🤎
And while this migrant knows Return is a fantasy, these days, I re-member, I reconsider, I reintegrate. 🪷🌳🤎
June 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Morning walk today. The ancestors said, abundance is our natural state. But I was taught for much of my education to reject everything they said, even if mama Nature confirms otherwise.
And while this migrant knows Return is a fantasy, these days, I re-member, I reconsider, I reintegrate. 🪷🌳🤎
And while this migrant knows Return is a fantasy, these days, I re-member, I reconsider, I reintegrate. 🪷🌳🤎
The classroom and the page within our deeply violent, deeply unequal world are admittedly privileged spaces, but I would neither continue to write nor teach if I didn’t firmly believe in their potential for Change.
Here, a tired, content face after my last seminar, & *few books taught for the AY.
Here, a tired, content face after my last seminar, & *few books taught for the AY.
June 3, 2025 at 9:15 PM
The classroom and the page within our deeply violent, deeply unequal world are admittedly privileged spaces, but I would neither continue to write nor teach if I didn’t firmly believe in their potential for Change.
Here, a tired, content face after my last seminar, & *few books taught for the AY.
Here, a tired, content face after my last seminar, & *few books taught for the AY.
Rarely into social trends but sometimes I can’t entirely resist. And reiterate (via IG).
Rested weekend. 💫
Rested weekend. 💫
May 30, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Rarely into social trends but sometimes I can’t entirely resist. And reiterate (via IG).
Rested weekend. 💫
Rested weekend. 💫
A lil beauty from Rajasthan and the Thar Desert (with issues like any other place!) for whoever needs it. I’ll never not love my ancestral land’s colors, hospitality, and most of all, its stories within stories within stories.
From our Cali high desert to the Thar. 💞
From our Cali high desert to the Thar. 💞
May 28, 2025 at 8:23 PM
A lil beauty from Rajasthan and the Thar Desert (with issues like any other place!) for whoever needs it. I’ll never not love my ancestral land’s colors, hospitality, and most of all, its stories within stories within stories.
From our Cali high desert to the Thar. 💞
From our Cali high desert to the Thar. 💞
Cuz everyday is Earth Day. 🤎
May 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Cuz everyday is Earth Day. 🤎
Among the many fierce mother figures I’m surrounded by, a *glimpse into this lineage too—cuz I’d be lost without its emotional inheritance. And working at repaying my debt. ✍🏽🌀
#MothersDay2025 #BookSky
#MothersDay2025 #BookSky
May 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Among the many fierce mother figures I’m surrounded by, a *glimpse into this lineage too—cuz I’d be lost without its emotional inheritance. And working at repaying my debt. ✍🏽🌀
#MothersDay2025 #BookSky
#MothersDay2025 #BookSky
A prose poem for you as Mother’s Day approaches. Published in 2020 @raisingmothers.bsky.social, only litmag I know on BIPOC parenting, and such a badass one! 🤎
May 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM
A prose poem for you as Mother’s Day approaches. Published in 2020 @raisingmothers.bsky.social, only litmag I know on BIPOC parenting, and such a badass one! 🤎
post-zoom selfie cuz first haircut in six months and silly joys.
April 22, 2025 at 5:17 PM
post-zoom selfie cuz first haircut in six months and silly joys.
💕 to libs everywhere for #nationallibraryweek & all you do.
Easy access to public libraries is amg the first things I noticed abt U.S—their frequency still strikes to me as very “first world” & reminder on *staggering gap in global access to resources. Here, HB Central Library & recommend a visit!
Easy access to public libraries is amg the first things I noticed abt U.S—their frequency still strikes to me as very “first world” & reminder on *staggering gap in global access to resources. Here, HB Central Library & recommend a visit!
April 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
💕 to libs everywhere for #nationallibraryweek & all you do.
Easy access to public libraries is amg the first things I noticed abt U.S—their frequency still strikes to me as very “first world” & reminder on *staggering gap in global access to resources. Here, HB Central Library & recommend a visit!
Easy access to public libraries is amg the first things I noticed abt U.S—their frequency still strikes to me as very “first world” & reminder on *staggering gap in global access to resources. Here, HB Central Library & recommend a visit!
Few highlights @awpwriter.bsky.social — incldg fab peers from both my panels on material/admin realities of the writing life (reaching readers, paying bills; vocation vs history/politics) & the *genuine moments of connections that happened over 48 hours in ways big & small, expected & unexpected. 🪷
March 30, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Few highlights @awpwriter.bsky.social — incldg fab peers from both my panels on material/admin realities of the writing life (reaching readers, paying bills; vocation vs history/politics) & the *genuine moments of connections that happened over 48 hours in ways big & small, expected & unexpected. 🪷
@awpwriter.bsky.social’s conference in LA too. & while i’ve always talked there of poetics & politics of art-making, excited to moderate panels on the more pragmatic aspects of writing this year with a fab group of peers incldg @myriamjachancy.bsky.social & @writemadhushree.bsky.social. join us! 🤎👇🏾
March 20, 2025 at 6:11 PM
@awpwriter.bsky.social’s conference in LA too. & while i’ve always talked there of poetics & politics of art-making, excited to moderate panels on the more pragmatic aspects of writing this year with a fab group of peers incldg @myriamjachancy.bsky.social & @writemadhushree.bsky.social. join us! 🤎👇🏾
took this photo at our local library yesterday. and noticed only now, an imperial flag fading against a lush blue sky and a sparse tree blooming upwards. a sign, i tell myself, and stubbornly hold a vision.
happy first day of spring, friends.
🤎🌀
happy first day of spring, friends.
🤎🌀
March 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
took this photo at our local library yesterday. and noticed only now, an imperial flag fading against a lush blue sky and a sparse tree blooming upwards. a sign, i tell myself, and stubbornly hold a vision.
happy first day of spring, friends.
🤎🌀
happy first day of spring, friends.
🤎🌀
The young man’s first tooth fell out. I wanted to hold on to it as a souvenir but decided to let it go—in the spirit of impermanence.
Funny thing parenting, and its own ideas of Time. 🤍
Funny thing parenting, and its own ideas of Time. 🤍
March 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM
The young man’s first tooth fell out. I wanted to hold on to it as a souvenir but decided to let it go—in the spirit of impermanence.
Funny thing parenting, and its own ideas of Time. 🤍
Funny thing parenting, and its own ideas of Time. 🤍
Join me next month @pw.org? 21st century writers who don’t come from money, there’s sooo much I’ve to say that institutions won’t.
And early bird discounts end on March 28. 👇🏾🙏🏽
And early bird discounts end on March 28. 👇🏾🙏🏽
March 19, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Join me next month @pw.org? 21st century writers who don’t come from money, there’s sooo much I’ve to say that institutions won’t.
And early bird discounts end on March 28. 👇🏾🙏🏽
And early bird discounts end on March 28. 👇🏾🙏🏽
A change in season, I call you in.
Green and blue, I call you in.
Light and wet, I call you in.
Open roads, I call you in. 🌀🪬
Green and blue, I call you in.
Light and wet, I call you in.
Open roads, I call you in. 🌀🪬
March 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM
A change in season, I call you in.
Green and blue, I call you in.
Light and wet, I call you in.
Open roads, I call you in. 🌀🪬
Green and blue, I call you in.
Light and wet, I call you in.
Open roads, I call you in. 🌀🪬
Happy Holi to all celebrating. And to color—today, everyday! 🩷
March 14, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Happy Holi to all celebrating. And to color—today, everyday! 🩷
this is one of my fave courses to teach as i get to bust so many myths abt Art & Literature (in 21st century) that soo many books about writing by white or male writers & traditional workshops & graduate programs/MFAs routinely uphold. was sold out last time & spots wont last. join me @pw.org 🤎👇🏾
March 13, 2025 at 6:31 PM
this is one of my fave courses to teach as i get to bust so many myths abt Art & Literature (in 21st century) that soo many books about writing by white or male writers & traditional workshops & graduate programs/MFAs routinely uphold. was sold out last time & spots wont last. join me @pw.org 🤎👇🏾
March 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
a dose of stillness for whoever needs it tonight. 🪷
March 10, 2025 at 4:18 AM
a dose of stillness for whoever needs it tonight. 🪷
Sharing a fave from 2 years back cuz reading women’s stories is revolution, writing women’s stories is revolution, teaching women’s stories is revolution—too.
Happy #internationalwomensday! 💞✊🏽
Happy #internationalwomensday! 💞✊🏽
March 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Sharing a fave from 2 years back cuz reading women’s stories is revolution, writing women’s stories is revolution, teaching women’s stories is revolution—too.
Happy #internationalwomensday! 💞✊🏽
Happy #internationalwomensday! 💞✊🏽