Deya Bhattacharya
is a freelance writer and former business development manager from Bangalore, India. She started writing fiction during the Covid-19 lockdown last year and couldn’t be happier about it. Her first publication was in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of Eclectica Magazine, followed by her acceptance into Season 2 of Pendust Radio.
She lives with her husband, who has to remind her every day to eat her vegetables, and their ever-growing family of stuffed animals.
Check out her blog about the writing life at Once There was a Silent Town.
Fiction | Dramatization
Adrian’s Affinity
written by Deya Bhattacharya
Adrian’s Affinity is a lush and lyrical story about a sensitive and intelligent boy with a special affinity — he can attract birds. It’s not a power, because he can’t control it. And it’s not an ability he wants, as it makes others — even his own mother — suspicious of him.
Both a bittersweet coming-of-age tale and a haunting mystery, this compelling and original story reminds us that we are all shaped by beautiful and mysterious forces as we struggle to fit in and understand ourselves.
© 2021 Deya Bhattacharya | Recording © 2021 Rivercliff Books & Media. All rights reserved.
Read by
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Stitcher | Email
Deya Bhattacharya is a freelance writer and former business development manager from Bangalore, India. She started writing fiction during the Covid-19 lockdown last year and couldn’t be happier about it. Her first publication was in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of Eclectica Magazine, followed by her acceptance into Season 2 of Pendust Radio.
She lives with her husband, who has to remind her every day to eat her vegetables, and their ever-growing family of stuffed animals.
Check out her blog about the writing life at Once There was a Silent Town.
Q&A with Deya
Tell us about your story...
It’s about a teenage boy named Adrian who lives in small-town England and has an unusual affinity with birds. They appear before him, individually or in droves, and he doesn’t know why.
It’s a mystery story on one level, but it’s also about the struggle of trying to understand yourself and fit in when you’re ‘different’ from your peers.
What was the inspiration for this story?
The first few lines had actually popped into my head out of nowhere about three years ago — there are strange-looking birds on a lawn somewhere and a boy named Adrian is watching them. I’d written it down because it seemed like something I could use later, and then summer of last year I fleshed it out.
What have you read recently that you loved?
The Doll And Other Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier. They’re some of her early stories, and many of them are unfinished, but there’s a raw talent that shines through and promises greater works to come. It’s like getting up close and personal with the growth trajectory of one of our greatest literary minds.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
I try to not feel guilty about the things that bring me pleasure, but if I had to pick – Nutella! It’s just so ridiculously decadent.
Who/What makes you laugh?
The YouTube channel “Bad Lip Reading.” It’s run by a guy who creates video montages of movie stars, sports stars and politicos by deliberately misreading the lip movements of what they’re saying. The phrases he comes up with are sheer genius — and he composes great spoof songs too!
What's the best thing that's happend to you recently?
Getting to marry the love of my life, whom I met on a dating app just before the Covid-19 lockdown. Ours was a whirlwind romance in the truest sense of the word and I couldn’t be happier about it.
If You Enjoyed This Episode…
give these a listen!
Caro’s Return
Robert Shusterhasn’t yet encountered one of his characters in the flesh, but they’re roaming around in various places, including his novel To Zenzi (winner of the 2019 AWP Prize), and in stories that have appeared in North American Review, Witness, The Mississippi Review, and Stone Canoe (among others), and in the anthologies Micro Fiction and Yellow Silk II. He lives in Westchester County,...
Rift Zone
Sarah Blanchardis an award-winning writer based in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Born on a dairy farm in Connecticut, she has always had a strong sense of belonging to the land and the rhythm of the seasons. After living most of her life in New England, she moved in 2003 to Hilo, Hawaii, where she taught at the University of Hawaii and later worked in administration at Gemini...
Through the Hole
Robin Luce MartinStricken with shyness, I took a writing workshop to come up with a few paragraphs I planned to memorize and deliver on dates. However, my instructor gave the assignment to link sentences. I began, She looked away and continued, to my astonishment, for 82 pages—single spaced and without punctuation as I thought an editor did that, and then I promptly sent the pages to The New...