Veena Gokhale, an immigrant shape shifter, started her career as a journalist in Bombay. This “tough, tantalizing” city inspired Bombay Wali and other stories (Guernica 2013). After immigrating to Canada, she worked for non-profits. Land for Fatimah is partly inspired by the two years she spent working in Tanzania. Veena has published fiction and poetry in anthologies and literary magazines. She continues to write freelance, and is currently marketing her book, The Artichoke, Sensuous Stories. She lives in Montreal.