In this episode, Jared and Shipra Agarwal talk about writing desire, shame, and female sexuality within collectivist cultures, and how those themes shape Shipra’s writing. They discuss the complicated responsibility of writing about India for a Western audience and the pressure to represent an entire culture. Shipra shares why she believes the answer is not to shy away from writing about home, but to add more stories and more voices to the literary landscape.
They also talk about Shipra’s unexpected path to becoming a writer, from training as a doctor to earning an MBA, working as a brand manager for McDonald’s India, and eventually beginning an MFA at 40. She shares her experience in the writing community at Arizona State University and how it has shaped her as a writer.
Shipra is a doctor-turned-brand-manager-turned-writer from India, pursuing an MFA in fiction at Arizona State University. Her work has been published in Witness Magazine and The Rumpus, awarded first place in the Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout Awards in 2026 and second place in 2025, nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize and the Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the First Pages Prize and the Iron Horse Long Story Prize, and supported by a Tin House Summer Workshop scholarship, the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, a residency at the Sundress Academy for the Arts, an Anaphora Arts scholarship, and a fellowship at the Authentic Voices Program. Shipra is the Editor-in-Chief of Best of the Net, and she’s currently working on a novel and an essay collection.
MFA Writers is hosted by Jared McCormack and produced by Jared McCormack, Hanamori Skoblow, and Brié Goumaz. New episodes are released every two weeks. You can find more MFA Writers at MFAwriters.com.
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