refers to a stereotype about Asians, even Blacks, so why did you choose that title?
NP: “Coconut” is a racial slur that—as you mentioned—has been used in many ways to denote someone who is “white on the inside.” Growing up, I felt both harmed by the erasure of my Indian identity by white folks as I conformed to whiteness, and then faced backlash from Indian folks for doing so. I wanted to reclaim this word and show that if I am to be a “coconut,” then this book is what a coconut looks like, in all its complexities. There’s no one way to be Indian, or Asian, or brown—those are just the ways that I am, and the things that make me who I want to be.