You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
a fresh perspective<br />
Putting it<br />
on the page<br />
Author Nikesh Shukla reveals how his writing career<br />
has shaped him as a person, and why he’s sharing<br />
his most vulnerable self through his words...<br />
Writing | Lucy Donoughue<br />
When Nikesh<br />
Shukla is<br />
asked to<br />
introduce<br />
himself<br />
on <strong>Happiful</strong>’s podcast ‘I<br />
am. I have’, he pauses for a<br />
moment. “I always feel weird<br />
answering these questions,<br />
because my natural instinct<br />
is to undercut everything<br />
and say: ‘I’m just one of those<br />
guys, you know…’”<br />
But Nikesh is far from ‘just’<br />
anything. He tells me that he’s<br />
a writer, a dad, and probably<br />
best known for editing The<br />
Good Immigrant – a critically<br />
acclaimed collection of<br />
essays. His latest offering<br />
is the beautiful, poignant,<br />
and deeply personal read<br />
Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race,<br />
Family and Home.<br />
Nikesh has spent the majority of<br />
his adult life writing, continually<br />
developing new ways of reaching<br />
audiences and sharing stories.<br />
It’s clear that he’s passionate<br />
about his craft and helping<br />
emerging writers, paying forward<br />
the support he’s received, and<br />
speaking up about the mental<br />
health impact of being a writer<br />
of colour, something that’s so<br />
rarely addressed in the industry,<br />
or beyond.<br />
From mentoring to mental<br />
health, and what makes for<br />
the best writing, here Nikesh<br />
shares the insight he’s gained,<br />
the choices he’s made, and the<br />
challenges he’s encountered in<br />
his career and life to date...<br />
The importance of<br />
paying it forward<br />
Part of the reason I am where I<br />
am, is because at the moments<br />
in my early career when I was<br />
ready to give up, and I’d lost all<br />
capacity for persistence, I had<br />
the right people intervene. I’m<br />
really lucky to have had amazing<br />
mentors at those points in my life.<br />
I had so many people get me to<br />
where I needed to be mentally and<br />
spiritually. My mentors gave me so<br />
much time and space, and I would<br />
be nowhere without them.<br />
I can’t ever pay them back, I can<br />
only ever pay it forward, because<br />
that’s just what you do. When you’re<br />
from a marginalised community,<br />
your elders pass on skills and<br />
support to you, and then you pass<br />
them on to the next generation. >>><br />
happiful.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2021</strong> | 87
Change language