Mathangi Subramanian is an award winning South Asian American writer and educator who believes stories have the power to change the world. Her novel A People’s History of Heaven was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Book Prize and the PEN/Faulkner, among others. Her middle grades book Dear Mrs. Naidu won the South Asia Book Award and was shortlisted for the Hindu-Goodbooks prize. Her nonfiction has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Ms., Al Jazeera America, and BOMB Magazine, among others. She holds a doctorate in education from Columbia Teachers College, and has been invited to teach writing workshops at The Porch, The Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop, and VONA. A former public school teacher, senior policy analyst at the New York City Council, and Fulbright-Nehru scholar, she currently lives in Denver with her husband, her child, and way too many picture books.
Mentor Statement
I see mentoring as an opportunity to co-construct knowledge and to learn side by side. Because I consider mentorship a conversation rather than a hierarchical transfer of knowledge, I strive to be an active listener able to provide my mentees with the resources, support, skills, and guidance they believe they need to become self-actualized, self-guided artists able to sustain a lifelong writing practice. Ultimately, my goal is to develop my mentee’s confidence and independence, such that in the future, they can find what and who they need when they need it, even without the benefit of a structured program.
I also see mentoring as an opportunity to create a plan for self-care. Specifically, I work with mentees to decolonize their writing practice by engaging with the work of scholars like Matthew Salesses, Felicia Rose-Chavez, and Tema Okun who beautifully articulate how systems of oppression negatively affect the way we view our work, our craft, and ourselves. I hope to work with mentees to recognize and name inequalities; to develop self-care plans for times when systems of oppression may render writing overwhelming and / or divorced from delight; and to see their art as a way to care for themselves.
My teaching and mentoring philosophy is influenced by ancestors like Paolo Freire and bell hooks, who believe that the purpose of education is liberation. I hope mentees will leave my classes and advisement closer to developing a writing practice that is both challenging and joyful, and that what we learn together helps them on their journey towards self-fulfillment, transformation, and transcendence in all aspects of their lives.