CORONA

"I am not that kind of an Indian," says Razia Mirza, thus uttering all that can and needs to be said. In Bushra Rehman's new collection of short stories, Corona - and no, she is not talking about the beer, but rather Corona, New York - the author foregrounds the category called experience in its many hues and colors.

Razia Mirza is a Pakistani woman from Corona, Queens, who grew up in a tight Muslim community surrounding the first Sunni masjid built in New York City. When a rebellious streak leads to her ex-communication, she decides to hit the road. Corona moves between Razia's childhood and the comedic misadventures she encounters on her journey, from a Puritan Colony in Massachusetts to New York City's Bhangra music scene. With each story, we learn more about the past she's escaping, a past which leads her to constantly travel in a spiral, always coming closer to but never quite arriving home.

Bushra Rehman grew up in Corona, Queens, but her mother says she was born in an ambulance flying through the streets of Brooklyn. Rehman co-edited the anthology, Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, which was included in Ms. Magazine's 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time. Her writing has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, and she has performed her stories at The Moth and on NPR.