Skip to main content

You make this possible. Support our independent, nonprofit newsroom today.

Give Now

The comedy and complexity of campus life: Sonora Jha's 'The Laughter'

Jha Laughter Hc
Enlarge Icon
Courtesy of Harper Collins

Let’s go back to the months leading up to the 2016 election. Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are running for president. And here in Seattle, liberal English professor Oliver Harding has lots of opinions.

He hates the idea of decolonizing the literary canon. He hates campus safe spaces. And he’s sure Hilary Clinton will win the election. But Oliver’s world changes when he becomes obsessed with his colleague, Ruhaba Khan.

Throughout the story of Sonora Jha's "The Laughter," the plot twists and turns around issues of Islamophobia, sexism, and inevitable change in the culture of campus life.

The world of academia is one Jha knows well as a professor of communication and media at Seattle University. She sat down with Soundside host Libby Denkmann to discuss her newest novel, and why she chose to make her main character so unlikeable.

Why you can trust KUOW