India, Jan. 29 -- I first met Lucy Caldwell in Belfast in the green summer of 2019. I had never seen so many Indian and Bangladeshi doctors, families and restaurants. JLF was carving new territory in the city and I was invited to steer a panel curated by Namita Gokhale on Myths about Mothers and Motherhood. Looking back, it was about women writers; women making time to think and write between the hours of sleep, food, childbearing and families. At least in the 21st century, women are recognised as professional writers. In other words, women writers make a living.

I was intrigued by the ease with which all of us had a global identity while locating our influences linguistically in English. We also had a local resonance. Later, meeting Cal...