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Atchafalaya Darling
There’s so much tenderness in these stories, all wrapped in vibrantly bubbling scenes and conversations. Dasgupta cares about all these characters and it shows all over the pages and pulls a reader in.
—Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
In Shome Dasgupta's latest collection, the dream-like world of South Louisiana shimmers through one of its most original voices. Atchafalaya Darling contains local music scenes, crumbling homes, and creature comforts amid the convergence of wild hopes and rural spaces. Each story navigates the nature of memory, lost or found, sprinkled like spice into the red of the crawfish. While this collection often portrays immense grief—whether from hurricane winds or splintered dreams—each character clings to a love for place and the people who make it home. Atchafalaya Darling is an homage to Cajun culture, providing ten glimpses into this region like a series of faded Polaroid pictures held under the sun.
—Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
In Shome Dasgupta's latest collection, the dream-like world of South Louisiana shimmers through one of its most original voices. Atchafalaya Darling contains local music scenes, crumbling homes, and creature comforts amid the convergence of wild hopes and rural spaces. Each story navigates the nature of memory, lost or found, sprinkled like spice into the red of the crawfish. While this collection often portrays immense grief—whether from hurricane winds or splintered dreams—each character clings to a love for place and the people who make it home. Atchafalaya Darling is an homage to Cajun culture, providing ten glimpses into this region like a series of faded Polaroid pictures held under the sun.
160 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2024
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Shome Dasgupta
14 books95 followersShome Dasgupta is the author of The Seagull And The Urn (HarperCollins India), Cajun South Brown Folk (Belle Point Press), Tentacles Numbing (Thirty West Publishing House), Histories Of Memories (Belle Point Press), Atchafalaya Darling: Stories (Belle Point Press), The Muu-Antiques (Malarkey Books), Cirrus Stratus (Spuyten Duyvil), Anklet And Other Stories (Golden Antelope Press), Pretend I Am Someone You Like (Livingston Press), Spectacles (Word West Press), Mute (Tolsun Books), i am here And You Are Gone which won the 2010 OW Press Contest, and Iron Oxide (Assure Press).
Shome received an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles. His fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, American Book Review, New Orleans Review, Arkansas Review, New Delta Review, Necessary Fiction, Louisiana Literature, Jabberwock Review, Parentheses Journal, Magma Poetry, and elsewhere. His fiction and poetry have been anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2023 (Alternating Current Press), The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (&Now Books), and Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press). His work has been featured as a storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Story, and his stories and poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, Best Of The Net, Best Microfiction, and the Orison Anthology.
He served as the series editor of the Wigleaf Top 50 from 2019 to 2025. He took part in the Innovative Fiction panel, as a featured author, at the Louisiana Book Festival. He lives in Lafayette, LA and can be found at ww.shomedome.com.
Shome received an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles. His fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, American Book Review, New Orleans Review, Arkansas Review, New Delta Review, Necessary Fiction, Louisiana Literature, Jabberwock Review, Parentheses Journal, Magma Poetry, and elsewhere. His fiction and poetry have been anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press), Best Small Fictions 2023 (Alternating Current Press), The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (&Now Books), and Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press). His work has been featured as a storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Story, and his stories and poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, Best Of The Net, Best Microfiction, and the Orison Anthology.
He served as the series editor of the Wigleaf Top 50 from 2019 to 2025. He took part in the Innovative Fiction panel, as a featured author, at the Louisiana Book Festival. He lives in Lafayette, LA and can be found at ww.shomedome.com.
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March 1, 2025
Dasgupta’s love for words and people are infectious. I love how he can capture a mood or feeling and have it hang heavy but also find a way for it to float…maybe like Louisiana humidity. His characters often have only one word to center around, but it’s enough to make his whole story. My favorite in this collection is A Vermillion Sad Song. I read it in Louisiana Literature originally. I liked it then, and like it even better on a second reading.
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