India, March 18 -- Fierceland is deeply concerned with inheritance of land, damage, and silence. What did writing this novel teach you about the kinds of inheritances we don't choose but still live with?

I think about it in two ways. The first is on a personal level - a very ancient, archetypal story of children inheriting the sins of the father, and how, if we are complicit in systems of oppression or exploitation, are we complicit through choice or coercion? Maybe even coercion through bloodlines.

The second is on a much broader scale. I became interested in the inheritances we have as postcolonial nations - whether it's India, Nigeria, or Malaysia. I wanted to look at the links between these different but similar nations on a global ...