COUNTERMAP & OUTSIDE WOMEN

Roohi Choudhry

Roohi Choudhry (NY) writes fiction about outsiders. Most often, her characters are refugees displaced from the homes they once knew. They may be outsiders as migrants in their adopted countries, but they were pushed to the fringes before they even left the homes of their birth. They became outsiders as activists, childless women, men who raise families alone, or non-believers.

During her residency at Surel's Place, Roohi Choudhry continued to develop these themes of people who must find home again on the outside across geographies and generations in her novel-in-progress, Outside Women.

Two women - separated by 100 years - are both displaced from their homes. Hajra is an academic in 1990s Pakistan who witnesses violence in which her brother is implicated. Sita grows up in a close-knit family in 1890s India until natural disasters ravage her village. Through interspersed chapters from the two perspectives, Outside Women explores the forms of kinship in which outsiders everywhere find refuge.

Several community members participated in a writing workshop where they created "Countermaps." These were also be on display during the final event. Workshop attendees spent an afternoon exploring the familiar streets in the Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District and scavenging for stories. They came back to Surel’s Place for writing and map-making prompts that helped them turn their found scraps into story treasure.