Why I Write Wednesday: Indiana Review Editor-In-Chief Shreya Fadia

Shreya Fadia is a third year fiction writer graduate student at IU and also the editor of Indiana Review, and Indiana University literary magazine. Reading and editing for IR has helped her when she thinks about and writes her own work.

“Reading a lot is a big part of being a writer,” she said.

Writers such as Carmen Maria Machado, George Saunders, Marilynne Robinson, Lauren Groff, Lorrie Moore and Karen Russell, inspire Shreya, but she also says her literary taste  “changes all the time.” 

Before attending IU, she went to law school at Columbia where she was a member of the law journal staff. She later went on to clerk and practice law. 

“I enjoyed practicing law, but I felt like I wasn’t having an opportunity to express myself in the sorts of ways I enjoy,” she said. 

The themes she often writes about include class, adolescence, and the immigrant experience. Her family immigrated from India when she was young. She has also been enjoying and “dabbling” in speculative fiction as well as some humor. 

She is currently working on her thesis novel, and has had other work in various publications including Black Warrior Review, The Margins, Cream City Review, Florida Review Online among others.