The Sea Elephants - Paperback

by Shastri Akella (Author)

Hailed as"powerful" (GMA), "important" (Poets & Writers), and "momentous" (BookPage), a queer coming-of-age novel set in 1990s India, about a young man who joins a traveling street theater troupe, seeking to outrun the dark secrets of his past

"An exquisite novel destined to be a classic." ―Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water

Shagun knows he will never be the kind of son his father demands. After the sudden deaths of his beloved twin sisters, Shagun flees his own guilt, his mother's grief, and his father's violent disapproval by enrolling at an all-boys boarding school. But he doesn't find true belonging until he encounters a traveling theater troupe performing the Hindu myths of his childhood.

Author Biography

Shastri Akella's writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Fairy Tale Review, Guernica, LitHub, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, and CRAFT, among others. The Sea Elephants is his debut. He's a professor of creative writing at Michigan State University.