About

Shome Dasgupta is the author of The Seagull And The Urn (HarperCollins India), Cirrus Stratus (Spuyten Duyvil), Tentacles Numbing (Thirty West Publishing House), The Muu-Antiques (Malarkey Books), Histories Of Memories (Belle Point Press), Atchafalaya Darling: Stories (Belle Point Press, Forthcoming), Anklet And Other Stories (Golden Antelope Press), Pretend I Am Someone You Like (Livingston Press), Spectacles (Word West Press), Mute (Tolsun Books), i am here And You Are Gone which won the 2010 OW Press Contest, and a poetry collection, Iron Oxide (Assure Press).

Shome received an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles. His fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, American Book Review, New Orleans Review, Arkansas Review, New Delta Review, Necessary Fiction, Louisiana Literature, Jabberwock Review, Parentheses Journal, Magma Poetry, and elsewhere. His fiction and poetry have been anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2023 (Alternating Current Press), The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (&Now Books), and Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press). His work has been featured as a storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Story, and his stories and poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, Best Of The Net, Best Microfiction, and the Orison Anthology.

He is currently the series editor of the Wigleaf Top 50. He took part in the Innovative Fiction panel, as a featured author, at the Louisiana Book Festival. He lives in Lafayette, LA and can be found at @laughingyeti.

He is represented by Teffanie Thompson of Falkin Literary.

Books

Histories of Memories

This hybrid collection of short prose pieces and Elliott Smith-inspired illustrations carries readers along a thin thread of memory—whether their own or the author’s past, it becomes difficult to say. Shome Dasgupta’s latest book recalls days at the movies, family heartache, and other personal experiences through soundtracks, daydreams, and attempts to remember what lingers from the spectrums of time. Whether pondering the vulnerability of a turtle or reflecting on his own fragilities, Dasgupta’s dreamy prose lets us into a series of fragments that depict a world broken yet beautiful. Histories of Memories is a testament to the burdens as well as the delights of our own narratives—how they keep us tied to each other whether we realize it or not. (Available for preorder from Belle Point Press, 2023)

The Muu-Antiques

Percy Winks needed a job and a place to stay. Macy Thorpewaite gave him an adventure. The Muu-Antiques has it all. Intrigue. True love. Muumuus. It’s a mystery and a romance and a coming-of-age novel—and it might be the sweetest book ever written. (Malarkey Books, 2023)

Tentacles Numbing

Tentacles Numbing takes place in Seattle where two Bengali brothers struggle to make it through each day as they cope with loss and loneliness. Ravi lives in an isolated world where he constantly dreams of being hanged while his older brother, Vavi, lives in his own version of reality on the streets with the hopes of turning Tentacles, Numbing—his screenplay—into a movie. When Ravi meets Brandi, his life is once again turned around, and a triangle is formed between the three as they search for love and comfort. While Vavi and Brandi are progressing, Ravi finds himself confused as to what is real and what is just a dream. (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022)

Cirrus Stratus

Cirrus Stratus tells the mythic story of love and rage and how a once prominent family deteriorated while living in the pangful city of Dormier. Misguided by desire, every turn spins itself frustratingly into a quagmire. Both love story as well as family saga—where memories collide amidst destruction—the novel journeys into human spirit through the tinted glass of a tainted, yet magical, realism. (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, 2022)

Spectacles

“When I reached the end of Spectacles, I immediately went back to the beginning to read it again. This is truly a book like no other. The innovative format and brutally honest revelations compel us as readers to face the worst thing of all, ourselves. With raw and secret thoughts on display, Dasgupta’s words beg the question, when you look at your reflection, do you like what you see? If our loved ones could read our minds, and our darkest thoughts were revealed, would they still love us? And would we love ourselves? The private shame and self-loathing that defines in some part what it is to be human teaches us that real love is many things, least of all perfect. There is a wisdom and an acceptance of a darker side running through the undercurrent of Dasgupta’s prose, which makes us realize that we cannot be good unless we grapple with our demons. Stunning!” (Word West, 2021)

Iron Oxide

Iron Oxide attempts to explore the natural world as it relates to one’s psyche—a mind in search of hope and solace through the various landscapes of solitude. (Assure Press, 2021)

Pretend I Am Someone You Like

Set in present day rural Louisiana, Mutty takes care of his younger cousin, Barn, who has not spoken since the day his father was arrested. Pepper, Mutty’s love interest, is haunted by a violent past, and she’s trying to escape it and start a new life. Her relationship with Mutty grows throughout the story as they learn more about each other, spiritually and physically, and Barn becomes a constant symbol of love for the two, who are trying to find a spark in their respective lives. Pepper’s past catches up with her, and Mutty, Barn, Ma, and Pepper are trying to deal with a mysterious man and his attempts at thievery and kidnapping in their own little world full of mud, hay, and crawfish. (Livingston Press, 2020)

Mute

In this collection of short stories and other miscellaneous moments, Shome Dasgupta creates a world that is somehow both clearly ours as well as barely recognizable. Dasgupta, the author of The Seagull And The Urn (Harper Collins India), weaves sophistication into pop surrealism, stripping away the meaningless noise that surrounds us and turning up the volume on our sticky yet ever-changing, beautifully disastrous lives. With Dasgupta as our guide, we are able to transcend time, and even verb tense, creeping in and out of postmodern fairytales gone awry. We examine our most awkward high school gymnasium memories and explore, with an unusual objectivity, how one’s dream date can drift away into another’s nightmare. It’s possible that Mute offers more questions than answers, uncertainties that are more satiating than any one-size-fits-all explanation could ever present. (Tolsun Books, 2018)

Anklet And Other Stories

Shome Dasgupta is an American author of Bengali descent who explores his South Asian roots in this series of fourteen stories, which are mostly set in modern day Kolkata. With hints of magical realism, each story reflects the surrealistic dimensions of a variety of characters visiting India and the engagements with the people they meet there. (Golden Antelope Press, 2017)

The Seagull And The Urn

March is born in April, just as the sun is setting. A singing baby who can’t sleep, she sets Kolkaper on edge. The Town Council orders the Scientists to take her away and study her, maybe send her to the Cave Forest, a place for freaks like her. Acting quickly, March’s parents and their friends, the Medallions, thwart those plans, sending the baby away to the distant town of Koofay. But March’s destiny is tied to that of Kolkaper’s. She must return to save the city from itself. An enchanting fable about love and faith and accepting the odd ones among us. (HarperCollins India, 2013)

i am here And You Are Gone

Winner of the 2010 Outsider Writers Press Fiction Contest

Shome Dasgupta’s debut maps the lifelong bond between Mary and Jonas, childhood friends perpetually approaching something more. Dasgupta weaves their world in elegant simplicity, stripping imagery and prose to an essential core while never devaluing the sentiment behind it. i am here And You Are Gone is a love story that elevates love and friendship above romanticized ideals, combining prosaic, poetic, and illustrative elements to describe a relationship in terms rarely explored in contemporary fiction. (Outsider Writers Press, 2010)

Publications and Interviews

Books

Atchafalaya Darling: Stories (Belle Point Press, Forthcoming)

Histories Of Memories (Belle Point Press, 2023)

The Muu-Antiques (Malarkey Books, 2023)

Tentacles Numbing (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022)

Cirrus Stratus (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022)

Spectacles (Word West, 2021)

Iron Oxide (Assure Press, 2021)

Pretend I Am Someone You Like (Livingston Press, 2018)

Mute (Tolsun Books, 2018)

Anklet And Other Stories (Golden Antelope Press, 2017)

The Seagull And The Urn (HarperCollins India, 2013)

i am here And You Are Gone (Winner of the 2010 OW Press Contest, Outsider Writers Press)

Fiction

“Four Oranges,” Gooseberry Pie (Forthcoming)

“A Familiar Frottoir,” Scrawl Place (2024)

“Monsoon Mosaic,” Lightning Strikes: An Anthology Of Flash Fiction By Fifty Indian Writers (Dhauli Books, Forthcoming)

“A Brief History Of Situation Comedies,” Bluestem (2023)

“A Shine Of The Tin,” Hex Literary (2023)

“A Menu For Tomorrow,” Roi Fainéant (2023)

“A Few Of Their Favorite Things (Novel Excerpt From The Muu-Antiques),” Scrawl Place (2023)

“By The Pond Back Home,” Poverty House (2023)

“Opelousas Electric,” Palooka (2023)

“Peanut Butter,” Gone Lawn (2023)

“Atchafalaya Darling,” Arkansas Review (Volume 53, Issue 1, 2022)

“Galileo’s World,” Jabberwock Review (43.1, 2022)

“The Rock And The River,” The Ex-Puritan (2022)

“Frog Creek Crow,” Belle Point (2022)

“A Vermilion Sad Song,” Louisiana Literature (39.1, 2022)

“The Song Of The Bark,” Vol. 1 Brooklyn (2022)

“Redfish,” Cowboy Jamboree (Fall, 2022)

“I’ll Never Know,” Trampset (2022)

“Cajundia,” Cold Signal (2022)

“Signs Of Communication,” Bright Flash Literary Review (2022)

“A Slight Tremor,” Complete Sentence (2022)

“A Lament For My Apparition,” Cloves Literary (2022)

“Dream Blizzard,” The Dillydoun Review (2022)

“Moon And Mantle,” The Bureau Dispatch (2022)

“Skulls Of Light,” MORIA (2021)

“Her Garden Her Earth,” Middle House Review (2021)

“A Brief Introduction To Memory,” Reservoir Road (2021)

“Pretty Day,” Flash Boulevard (2021)

“A Delicate Clef,” Flash Boulevard (2021)

“Fission And Fusion,” Flash Boulevard (2021)

“Days Of Sunlit Marigolds,” Flash Boulevard (2021)

“Solar Drifts,” Nurture (2021)

“Yonder Years Ago,” Fractured Lit (2021)

“A Catalytic Tilt,” Fractured Lit (2021)

“Such Velocity,” Fractured Lit (2021)

“A Distance Of Thunder,” Fractured Lit (2021)

“Photospheric Magnifications,” Crack The Spine (2020)

“m • a,” The Art Of Everyone (2020)

“Future Memories Of Love,” The Art Of Everyone (2020)

“Kinetic Electrons,” The Art Of Everyone (2020)

“Acorns Of Memories,” Truffle Literary Magazine (2020)

“Candles And Petals,” Bull (2020)

“Rickshaw Wrench And Spoke,” The Remnant Archive (2020)

“Remember Nothing,” New Sinews (2020)

“Like Hummingbirds,” X-R-A-Y (2020)

“$1000 To Lose,” (mac)ro(mic) (2020)

“Musica Universalis And The Pythagorean Love Song,” Terse (2020)

“Chapel Of Ghosts,” Tiny Molecules (2020)

“Gabriel García Márquez’s Notes From Mardi Gras,” McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (2019)

“Upon A Sunny Day At Noon,” Milk Candy Review (2019)

“Pancakes And Light,” Milk Candy Review (2019)

“The Learning Game,” Jellyfish Review (2019)

“Rush Hour,” Six Sentences (2018)

“The Laughing Hyena,” New Delta Review (2018)

“Invincible,” Lost Balloon (2018)

“Your First Friday Night At The Movies,” Bending Genres (2018)

“Samosa,” The Current Magazine (2017)

“The Bullies,” Necessary Fiction (2017)

“What Do You See When You Shave (Upon Sitting Next To A Stranger At The DMV),” Fiction Southeast (2016)

“Charcoal Oceans,” Big Lucks (2015)

“Sink,” Word Riot (2014)

“Years Ago Years Later,” Runaway Dish (Volume 3, 2014)

“The Last Sigh Of Bear,” Gingerbread House Literary Magazine (2014)

“Crawfish And A Drawing By Barn,” Deep South Magazine (2014)

“The Storm Was Coming,” Deep South Magazine (2014)

“Went The Bite,” Puerto Del Sol (Volume 48, Number 1, 2013)

“Sisters,” The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (2013)

“Mud,” Uncanny Valley (Issue 0002, 2013)

“Gone Went The Rabbit,” Uncanny Valley (Issue 0002, 2013)

“Truck,” New Orleans Review (Issue 38.1, 2012)

“The Wandering Goat,” Redivider (2011)

“The sisters…” [ C. ] (Mud Luscious Press Stamp Stories Anthology, 2011)

“A Good Wash,” Wigleaf (2011)

“Pepper And The Sun,” NANO Fiction (2011)

“Tongue, Tongue, Tongue,” Rougarou (2011)

“The Good Dead Dog,” Rougarou (2011)

“Rodeo,” Rougarou (2011)

“Pecan,” Used Furniture Review (2011)

“The Book Of Plays,” Mad Hatters’ Review (2011)

“XXXXXXXXXXXX,” Deep South Magazine (2010)

“Quiche,” Lies/Isle (2010)

“The Passing Of Anna Louise,” Drunken Boat (2010)

“The Palate Of Argento Magenta The Painter,” Everyday Genius (2010)

“Star And Quack,” The Scrambler (2010)

“Gavin’s Proposal,” Stymie Magazine (2010)

“The Music Of Psychology And The Schizophrenic,” Splinter Generation (2010)

“Samosa,” The Ranfurly Review (2009)

“This Is My Head,” The Coachella Review (2009)

“At The Bus Stop,” H_NGM_N (2009)

“The Egg Famine And The Man In Love,” The Medulla Review (2009)

“Thieves,” Muscadine Lines (2009)

“In The Mornings,” Sein Und Werden (2009)

“Eight Hours Later,” The Dead Mule School Of Southern Literature (2009)

“Our Skin,” Willows Wept Review (2009)

“A Brief Encounter In The Museum,” Paperwall (2009)

“A Map Of The House,” Abjective (2009)

“Parlez-Vous,” Dogzplot (2009)

“Where Are You,” Bartleby Snopes (2009)

“Re: Query–J.Ped,” Word Riot (2008)

“Don’t Go To Sleep,” DiddleDog (2008)

“Tagore’s Kiss,” Two Hawks Quarterly (2008)

“The Boatman’s Home,” Café Irreal (2008)

“I Think,” The Meadow (2008)

“The Possible Events Of Yestermorrow, It May Have Happened, I Might Promise,” Shelf Life Magazine (Issue 2, 2008)

“Empty Chair,” Gertrude Press (2008)

“1-0,” Verdad Magazine (2007)

“Backyard,” The Meadow (2007)

“Backyard,” The Quiet Feather (2006)

“300 Rupees,” The Chickasaw Plum (2006)

Poetry

“Us Cajun South Brown Folk,” The Emerson Review (Forthcoming)

“Only The Cow Knew,” Susurrus (Forthcoming)

“Down Smede Road,” Susurrus (Forthcoming)

“The Lost Saris Of Crawfish Season,” The Eunoia Review (Forthcoming)

“Chandelier Palaces,” Wasteland Review (2024)

“Tiresias Up The Bayou,” Wasteland Review (2024)

“Plastic Rivers,” Centaur (Forthcoming)

“An Ocean Between Markets,” Prose Poems (Issue 4, 2024)

“Acadiana Rickshaws,” Prose Poems (Issue 4, 2024)

“Soft Marble Dirt,” Night Heron Barks (2023)

“Soaked In Lightning,” Trampoline (Issue 20, 2023)

“Mel’s Diner,” Red Ogre Review (2023)

“A Day Dripped Day,” Cicada (2023)

“Ladders,” South Broadway Ghost Society (2023)

“The Dance of the Wayfarer,” IceFloe (2022)

“Just A Bit,” The Burning Hearth (2021)

“A Slight Resonance And Reflection,” Claw & Blossom (2021)

“Morning Raga,” Journal Of Expressive Writing (2021)

“Wild Wild Wild,” Clover & White (2020)

“Maddened Skies,” Mineral (2020)

“The Magnus Effect,” Stymie (2020)

“We Walk Away Like Nothing,” Emerge Literary Journal (2020)

“River Streams,” Emerge Literary Journal (2020)

“Wander Throughout,” Parentheses Journal (2020)

“Know No Better,” Citron Review (2020)

“Bones,” Citron Review (2020)

“The Only Way We Know,” Cypress: A Poetry Journal (2020)

“Except For The Laughing Mouse,” Trouvaille Review (2020)

“Path Of The Petals,” Atlas And Alice (2020)

“The Eroding Iron Of Memories Replenished,” The McNeese Review: Boudin Online (2020)

“Harnessed Above The Earth,” Menacing Hedge (2019)

“The Rabbit’s Entrance,” Menacing Hedge (2019)

“The Circus Crazy,” The Little White Poetry Journal (2009)

“The Pond Does Not Ripple,” Poetic Voices Without Borders 2
(Anthology, Gival Press, 2009)

Nonfiction

“Spectrums Of A Universe,” Fiery Scribe Review (Creative Nonfiction, 2024)

“Kolkata Chameleon,” The Hooghly Review (Creative Nonfiction, 2024)

“A Friend In Muu,” The Malarker (Creative Nonfiction, 2023)

“In The Shadow Of A Bird,” Janus Literary (2023)

“Say Hi,” Reckon Review (2022)

“Poets On Craft,” Cultural Daily (2022)

“It Goes Like This,” Ligeia (2022)

“Harmonic Oscillations,” Twin Pies Literary Magazine (2022)

“An Echo Full Of Thunder: An Introduction To Kate Chopin’s The Storm,” Scratch (2022)

“A Sound Of Dew,” Chaotic Merge (2022)

“Golden Fields,” JMWW (2021)

“A Vague Recollection From 111 Liberty Avenue,” Scrawl Place (2021)

“A Kolkata Dream,” New World Writing (2021)

“Excerpts From My Memory,” Schuylkill Valley Journal (2021)

“Listen To Track #10,” HAD (2021)

“When Once I Was Gone,” Semicolon Literary Magazine (2020)

“Elliott Smith,” The Big Other (Drawings, 2019)

“Molly Gaudry’s Desire: A Haunting,” Necessary Fiction (2019)

“Shelfie Series: On Trips to Barnes & Noble, Books of Wizardry, and the Joy of Rediscovery,” The Coil Magazine (2018)

“A Story Behind The Stories: On Writing Anklet & Other Stories,” Deep South Magazine (2017)

“Lies Full Of Truths: Rob Roberge’s Liar,” The Lit Pub (2016)

“I Want To See The Music Of Your Dreams,” The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review (2015)

“On The Giving Tree,” Drawn from Memory: Reflections on the Art of Illustration (2014)

“Brian Allen Carr’s Vampire Conditions,” American Book Review (2013)

“Edna,” Letters With Character (2010)

“No, I Won’t Go Out With You,” Shelf Life Magazine (Issue 4, 2008)

Anthologies

“Monsoon Mosaic,” Lightning Strikes: An Anthology Of Flash Fiction By Fifty Indian Writers (Dhauli Books, Forthcoming)

“Say Hi,” The Best Small Fictions Anthology (2023)

“Frog Creek Crow,” Belle Point Mid/South Anthology (2022)

“The Dance of the Wayfarer,” IceFloe Love And Other Affinities Anthology (2022)

“Acorns Of Memories,” The Best Small Fictions Anthology (2021)

“Your First Friday Night At The Movies,” The Bending Genres Anthology 2018–2019 (2020)

“The Laughing Hyena,” The Best Small Fictions Anthology (2019)

“Sisters,” The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (2013)

“The sisters…” [ C. ] (Mud Luscious Press Stamp Stories Anthology, 2011)

“The Egg Famine And The Man In Love,” The Medulla Review: Volume 1 Anthology (2010)

“The Pond Does Not Ripple,” Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (2009)

“Anklet,” Kartika Review: Inaugural Year Anthology (2008)

Readings and Interviews

Speaking Of Marvels (Forthcoming)

Vancouver Flash Fiction (2023)

A Conversation (2022)

Apparel For Authors (2022)

Micro Podcast (2021)

Interview With Judith Meriwether, Apres Midi Afternoon Classics, KRVS (2019)

Two Questions, An Interview With Milk Candy Review (2019)

Apparel For Authors (2019)

Louisiana Book Festival, Featured Author, Innovative Fiction (2018)

An Interview With Antioch University-Los Angeles MFA Creative Writing Program (2018)

Finding Magic In Kolkata, An Interview With The Current Magazine (2017)

Delightful Book Reviews (2015)

Ernest J. Gaines Center Reading Series (2013)

Bahrisons Booksellers Interview (2013)

One Note (2012)

On Reading (2011)

Splintered Thoughts (2010)

Recognition

“In The Shadow Of A Bird,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2024

“Say Hi,” Best Small Fictions Anthology 2023 (Alternating Current Press, Anthology, 2023)

“A Sound Of Dew,” Nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2023

“Chapter 16,” Excerpt From Tentacles Numbing, Nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2023

“A Lament For My Apparition,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2023

“Lost Centuries,” Nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2022

“Solar Drifts,” Nominated for the Best Microfiction Anthology, 2022

“A Brief Introduction To Memory,” Nominated for the Best Microfiction Anthology, 2022

“Acorns Of Memories,” Best Small Fictions Anthology 2021 (Sonder Press, Anthology, 2021)

“Her Garden Her Earth,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2021

“Bones,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2020

“Know No Better,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2020

“The Rabbit’s Entrance,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2020

“Wander Throughout,” Nominated for the 2021 Orison Anthology, 2020

“Upon A Sunny Day At Noon,” Nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019

“The Laughing Hyena,” Best Small Fictions Anthology 2019 (Sonder Press, Anthology), 2019

“The Good Dead Dog,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2013

“Sisters,” The &Now Awards 2: Best Innovative Writing (&Now Books, Anthology), 2013

i am here And You Are Gone, Winner of the OW Press Fiction Chapbook Contest, 2010

“Eight Hours Later,” Nominated for The Best Of The Net, 2009

Lemon Juice (chapbook manuscript), Finalist for The Spire Press Prose Chapbook Contest, 2009

“The Boatman’s Home,” The storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories, 2008