During my fellowship year at Radcliffe, I will complete the manuscript of the above project. It is a work of narrative nonfiction, combining reporting and research with novelistic techniques of characterization and voice to create a portrait of the new India.

The research partner does not need to have specific knowledge about India but should have a keen literary sensibility and be interested in fiction, literary nonfiction, and New Journalism. The research partner’s duties will include tracking down books and articles from the library and from on-line sources. A possession of some basic journalistic or research skills would be useful, especially in finding economic and social data about India. I might also call upon the partner’s editorial judgment in discussing chapter drafts.

I would find the partner’s assistance invaluable in his or her ability to bring an independent critical perspective to a project in which I have been immersed for a long time. A student interested in pursuing a writing or editorial career should find in the process a direct introduction to how books are written.