Home Has No Borders

Ahmed and Charaipotra, editors of the short story collection Magic Has No Borders, team up for a new assemblage that considers the meaning of home and features South Asian diaspora authors, including Tashie Bhuiyan, Veera Hiranandani, and Rajani LaRocca. In some entries, characters navigate internal conflict about their identity: Kanwalroop Kaur Singh’s melancholic offering, “we dine with our dead,” follows a Sikh teenager contending with tragedy, while Anuradha D. Rajurkar’s “Star Anise” depicts one teen’s experience grappling with their immigrant parents’ pressure to excel. Others read like episodic jaunts about life’s quotidian pleasures: in Tanya Boteju’s charming “One Island,” a queer DJ partners with her crush to teach a children’s dance class, and protagonists, following a breakup, wrestle with lingering feelings for each other in Ahmed’s “You Can’t Go Home Again.” Themes of connection permeate this poignant and introspective anthology, which asks—and occasionally answers—thought-provoking questions about what it means to be a young South Asian person in contemporary Western society. Introductory letters from both editors contextualize the collection’s beginnings. Ages 13–up. (May)