"But what I think is beautiful is people open bookshops anyway, and it's always because those people really love books. Books are being generationally devalued, but they're actually one of the most precious resources in the world. We're all in the businesses of conservation, and keeping bookshops open makes books accessible and keeps reading relevant. The survival rate of bookshops is a real snapshot of our most creative, curious and hopeful society, so in terms of changing people's perspective about the world of books--would it even be too bold a claim to make that books really might be saving the world?"

The New England Independent Booksellers Association's Fall Conference in Newton, Mass., concluded yesterday with several lively author events, the association's annual meeting, and a luncheon moveable feast. Shelf Awareness reporting continues next week. 

David Grogan (left), director of American Booksellers for Free Expression, Advocacy, and Public Policy, moderated the session "Advocacy and Free Speech--What's Important Now." Kenny Brechner, Devaney Doak Garrett Booksellers, Farmington, Maine; Becca Morton, Back Cove Books, Portland, Maine; and Kathleen Crowley, Belmont Books, Belmont, Mass., discussed "three issues that have a sense of urgency about them": website ADA compliance lawsuits, the Credit Card Competition Act, and bills that limit access to books.

NEIBA reprised a popular panel from 2025, "Anatomy of a Book," about the book design process. Liz Whitelam (far r.), owner of Whitelam Books in Reading, Mass., and outgoing president of NEIBA, led a discussion with (from l.) Amy Baker, associate publisher and editorial director of Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks; Celeste Knudsen, senior art director for Sourcebook's Stonefruit Studio; and Nancy Siscoe, senior executive editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers.

New England Children's Bookselling Advisory Council (NECBA) members (from l.) Kristin Richland, Phoenix Books, Essex, Vt.; Laure Colodner, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Mass.; Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, Mass.; and Betsy Covert, the Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, N.H., held a conversation with children's and YA booksellers about fostering third spaces for kids and teens.

An Attempted Murder of Crowes?: Remlee Crowe, Storybook Cove, Hanover, Mass., met up with Penguin Random House's Emily Crowe. (photo: Benjamin Rybeck)

Maureen Karb (r.) with Como Sales flipped the coin for a lively game of Heads or Tails, won by Jarrett Frankel (c.) from Wild Meadows Books & Cafe in Williston, Vt. Frankel is a new bookseller and first-time attendee at NEIBA's Fall Conference. Thanks to HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing for sponsoring the game, which raised more than $650 for Binc. Judey Kalchik, Binc's program manager, is on the left.

Alex Schaffner of Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass., moderated the "Every Event Is a Special Event" panel, featuring Kate Keisling, owner of The Purple Couch Bookshop, North Andover, Mass.; Ryan Clark, manager of events and marketing, Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, N.H.; and Stephanie Pando, senior publicist, Abrams Books. Schaffner guided the conversation through the process of planning an event and working it, with a focus on ways bookstores can pair with publicists and publishers.

From left: Alex Schaffner, Kate Keisling, Ryan Clark, Stephanie Pando

Clark and Keisling started out by describing what they consider to be a special event. "Obviously," said Clark, "butts in seats makes me feel good. Books sold makes me feel good. But mostly, I want my author to be happy." Her approach is to treat "every event like it's a big event." Keisling agreed, adding that an event is successful to her if the attendees felt comfortable and left "wanting to come back."

Once the event has been planned, organization is key. Clark said, "Author care is something we talk about ahead of time: giving them a point person, spending time with them, making them feel special. I like to give my authors a heads up on attendance, whether high or low, to set a reasonable expectation." This, Pando said, can be very helpful because no matter the size of the crowd, the publicist can remind the author they are "going there to build relationships with the bookstores and booksellers who will, in turn, remember them and sell their books."

What should stores do to prep for events? "I have a basket of ARCs behind the register by the authors coming for events and encourage my staff to read them," Clark said. "We make a trifold flyer for customers that has all the month's events, as well as simple bookmarks with book cover, author name, and when they're coming. I communicate with the authors and the publicist and, if I notice an event is getting less people than anticipated, I'll reach out to the publicist to ask them to push the publicity." Schaffner added that anyone coordinating an event should remember to "standardize the information you're sending out to customers, publishers, and authors. If you don't have a set list that you're sending out every time, you may not get all the correct information out." Additionally, bookstores should make sure to be ADA compliant and inclusive in their offerings. "We use the mics, we pay attention to sight lines," said Kiesling. "We also pay attention to the noise level." Clark suggested "a note on the event page that tells people to contact the store if they need any accommodations." And Pando recommended stores have different sized seats for the author to choose from and to be size inclusive with seating for the audience.

How do they keep everything in order? "It's really about having timeline reminders," Keisling said. "I built myself an Excel spreadsheet to-do list for each author and I force myself to look at it every week to make sure I haven't completely forgotten about something," Clark admitted. "I set alarms for everything, including 'check to make sure you ordered books.' "

What about working the event itself? "We work backwards," Clark said. "How many tables are we going to have? How many offsite registers do we need? Who is the author point person? Who is doing the intro? That's how many people we need." Keisling suggested having a script (Do attendees know where the bathrooms are? Do they know where the exits are?), having a separate signing area ("Mid-event chaos will always include that the signing table is away from where everyone in the audience is sitting"), and "making sure you give the author a breath before they start signing."

How do they keep the signing line moving? Pando reminded that publicists are "often there because the author is anxious, but we also want to help. I'm more than happy to help flap books or do post it notes." Clark suggested having attendees write their stickies for signing as they pick up the book before the event. "If you can, have someone on your staff take people's phones to take both candid and posed photos with the author. It's a nice way to keep the line moving."

Most importantly, have a plan and be prepared for the unexpected. "I have everything prepped before the event," Keisling said. "Knowing the mental checklist is mostly done reduces my stress significantly." But if something does go wrong, "it's all going to work out. We're not leaving someone dying on a table in surgery." Clark responded with "there is no such thing as a book emergency. Sometimes customers will make you feel like it's life or death--it's not. It's going to be okay." --Siân Gaetano, Shelf Awareness children's and YA editor

PEN America has named award-winning novelist, essayist, and professor Phil Klay to serve as its president and chair of its board of trustees. He was appointed to the position to fill the vacancy after Dinaw Mengestu resigned in July.

Phil Klay

Klay is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He served in Iraq from January 2007 to February 2008 as a public affairs officer. After being discharged, he received an MFA from Hunter College. His books include the short story collection Redeployment, which won the National Book Award for fiction as well as National Book Critics' Circle John Leonard Prize; the novel Missionaries; and essay collection Uncertain Ground. He is director of the Fairfield University MFA in Creative Writing, and his writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines. 

"Phil Klay is a writer who wrestles with moral complexity, challenges orthodoxies, and pushes us all to consider what it takes to maintain our humanity during times of upheaval and division," said Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America's co-CEO. "He is coming to this role with a deep respect for writers as truth seekers, a principled commitment to free expression, and a firm belief in the power of literature to foster a more just world. In this moment of critical threats to free speech and democracy, we are grateful for his leadership."

A longtime PEN America member and a trustee since 2025, Klay added: "As a writer, free expression is the lifeblood of what we do, and that means not simply a narrow legalistic view of the First Amendment, but a broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square. That means keeping PEN America an organization writers recognize as their own, and it means continued dialogue with our community, including writers, members, and partners....

"In the end, freedom of expression is secured through a deep commitment to human equality and human dignity. If we cannot speak, we cannot be known, and we cannot be fellow citizens together. Freedom of expression is about creating a world in which individuals, though prone to as much folly and cruelty as they are to beauty and goodness, can be fully human."

Tracy Higgins, executive vice-president of PEN America's board of trustees, commented: "Phil Klay possesses both the courage and the clarity PEN America needs in its next president. He recognizes that in a time of profound political division, PEN America must maintain a space where writers are free to disagree. We must not only foster conversation but also tolerate dissent if we are to progress toward a better understanding of ourselves and our world. PEN America's board of trustees is delighted to have him take on this role." 

Former PEN America president Ayad Akhtar added: "I've known and admired Phil Klay for a decade--his books, his mettle and grace, his commitment to principle, his steadfastness in the face of tumult and conflict. At a time when freedom of the imagination and thought is not only under attack from every human quarter, but increasingly from the non-human as well, Phil is a natural choice to serve as president of PEN America. He understands that bonds thicker than point of view are necessary to build our communities and our resistance. Literature and advocacy are not synonymous, but at their best, they are handmaidens. Phil understands this as well as anyone I know."

The renamed Letterpress Play & Books is set to open this October in a new location at 2209 S 1st St., Suite 101 in Austin, Tex. Noah Hawley, the showrunner, screenwriter (Alien: Earth, Fargo), and novelist, is joining his wife, artist and Letterpress Play founder Kyle Hawley, to expand the established brand into Letterpress Play & Books. The larger storefront will build on the world she has created, while introducing a dedicated independent bookstore developed by Noah Hawley.

Founded by Kyle Hawley in 2018, Letterpress Play "is rooted in creativity, craftsmanship and the heritage art of letterpress printing," creating "thoughtfully designed, handcrafted stationery, greeting cards and art while curating products from local and global artisans and makers" and "has grown into a locally known destination for quality products and community events," the company noted.

Noah Hawley has published six novels, including A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Other People's Weddings, The Punch, The Good Father, Before the Fall, and Anthem. His next book, Practical Genius (W.W. Norton, April 2027), is a creative's guide to business and life. 

The expansion of their business into Letterpress Play & Books builds on the couple's shared passion for creative collaboration and community engagement in Austin, while introducing books as a significant new component of the Letterpress Play experience. 

The new, more than 3,600-square-foot space will include 1,100 square feet dedicated to books, drawing inspiration from bookstores and vintage shops Kyle Hawley has visited in London and Paris. The store "has been thoughtfully designed with details including custom wallpaper, mosaics and shelving throughout, alongside floor-to-ceiling windows that fill the store with natural light. Familiar elements of Letterpress Play will carry into the new location, including its iconic 'card room' filled with letterpress greeting cards and a comfortable living room seating area, while the new outdoor patio will offer additional seating just outside," the company said.

"At Letterpress Play & Books, we believe that when you pluck the right combination of words and pictures off of the shelf, you can explain the unexplainable," said Noah Hawley. "In our gallery of 10,000 worlds, there is a book for every mood, a journey to satiate each yearning, a story to soothe your unquiet mind. Plus, coffee! Come join our community of regulars (and irregulars). Whether you want to get lost or be found, there is a book for you at Letterpress Play & Books."

Deirdre McDermott, picture book publisher and associate director of Walker Books, has died. "One of the most respected figures in children's publishing, Dee McDermott spent 37 years at Walker Books and played a pivotal role in shaping one of the world's most acclaimed picture book lists. Unique among many publishers of her generation, she brought an art director's eye, a deep understanding of storytelling, and an exceptional instinct for illustration and design," the company said.

Deirdre McDermott

Born in Dublin, Ireland, McDermott studied visual communication at the National College of Art and Design. She joined Walker Books in 1989 as a junior paperback designer and spent three years as a design assistant to Amelia Edwards, one of Walker's founding members. McDermott rose to become picture book publisher and associate director in 2002. "Her taste, judgement and attention to detail helped shape the Walker picture book list for more than three decades," the publisher noted.

At Walker Books, McDermott championed generations of celebrated authors and illustrators, including Bob Graham, Chris Haughton, Helen Oxenbury, Oliver Jeffers, and Jessica Love, while also discovering and nurturing emerging creators through initiatives such as the Sebastian Walker Award, which she helped establish in partnership with Cambridge School of Art in 2011. She also joined the board of the Association of Illustrators in 2018 and was one of their longest serving trustees. 

In her 24-year tenure as publisher, Walker Books won the Carnegie Medal for Illustration six times; the Klaus Flugge Prize three times, including most recently with Forest Xiao's Seven Babies; as well as the Oscar's Book Prize twice; the Bologna Ragazzi for A Child of Books (Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers); and the 2024 Waterstones Prize for Best Illustrated Book for The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish (Chloe Savage). Oh Dear, Look What I Got! (Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury) won this year's children's nonfiction & illustrated category at the British Book Awards.  

"Dee was one of a kind," said Maria Tunney, editorial director, picture books. "It was her sharp art director's eye, her instincts for type and page layout, her love of storytelling and her impeccable taste in art that has made the picture book list what it is today. We learnt so much from her, not just about bookmaking but about life--how to move through the world, how to be. When she decided that she would stop working, she said to me: 'One thing: no mediocrity.' So that is the feeling and the message that we will be carrying with us; that is her legacy. All of us in the picture book team are incredibly grateful to have had the time with her that we had. We feel so lucky. I will miss her forever."

Shannon Cullen, publishing director of Walker Books UK, commented: "To know Dee was to know the energy that comes from creativity. We are all united in our deep sense of loss, but uplifted by the fun and vibrant memories that Dee has given us. She changed the way we work, even the phrases we use; she upheld the integrity with which Walker approaches bookmaking; and above all she was an honest and loyal friend. Like all the brilliant books she had a hand in, Dee's influence will be enduring and best-in-class."

Walker Books Group CEO Belinda Ioni Rasmussen described McDermott as "a force of nature, a bundle of joy, an unstoppable energy, an enthusiasm that touched us all, and the source of some of the very best laughs we ever shared. Dee leaves a big heart-shaped hole in our lives, but her irrepressible spirit will live on. We will continue to make extraordinary picture books in her name and honor her legacy by carrying forward the work she believed in so passionately. We hope to make you proud, Dee."

Before his event with illustrator Thien Pham for Mind vs. Machine (Roaring Brook) at Copperfield's Books in Petaluma, Calif., author Steve Sheinkin accepted a challenge to play a game of chess, in the store's front window, from eight-year-old Griffin. After fierce competition, they played to a draw. Griffin's mom can be seen watching the match in the reflection. Mind vs. Machine is a graphic novel about the 1996 chess battle between Garry Kasparov and IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.

Congratulations to Betty's Books in Webster Groves, Mo., which is celebrating its fifth anniversary on Saturday, September 26, with new drink specials, discounts, a special art studio activity, and more. 

When the bookstore opened in 2021, owner Betty Bayer said: "The mission of Betty's Books is to provide our community and the St. Louis area with a fun and welcoming space to celebrate, learn about and share graphic books. We are committed to spreading the word that graphic books are for everyone, and that the combination of art + text has the power to enrich our lives. We love these books and we strive to apply values of inclusivity, family-friendliness and freshness to all elements of serving customers."

The celebration also marks the bookstore's first full year in its new location at 8772 Big Bend Blvd. Last year, Bayer explained the move: "I'm thrilled to be able to expand our offerings at our new location. While comics and illustrated books will always be our focus, events--author signings, birthday parties, book clubs, art workshops, and beyond--are one of our biggest strengths as a business and community center. The new dedicated event space allows for more flexibility in timing and capacity for programming, parties, and beyond."

The Middleburg, Va., area is known for wine tastings, and Middleburg Books is putting a new spin on the concept with Book Tastings, a personalized in-store experience designed to help readers discover their next great reads. Guests spend an hour with the store's book experts, who curate a customized selection of titles based on each participant's interests and reading preferences.
 
Held before or after regular store hours, each Book Tasting "offers an intimate, one-on-one experience," the bookstore noted. "The Middleburg Books team preselects books for the guest and then reviews the recommendations with them during the session. Morning Book Tastings include coffee and a treat, while after-hours sessions include wine and chocolates."
 
"We want those participating to have a very exclusive, highly memorable experience that will set them up with a remarkable reading list for months or years," said Mary Beth Morell, owner and CEO of Middleburg Books.
 
Middleburg Books has hosted Book Tastings for both individuals and groups. Giving a Book Tasting as a gift has also become popular. Book clubs have booked private appointments, as have wedding parties and bridal showers..
 
"We have also helped groups who want to come out to the country, stay at Salamander Resort, and have a book reading, discussion or Book Tasting retreat," Morell said.

Book Tastings are $125 for the one-hour experience and include a tote bag and a $50 voucher toward the purchase of books in the store. Advance reservations are required.

"Subliminal messaging from Teddy," the Author Shoppe in Hattiesburg, Miss., posted on social media.

"It's a bookish day in the neighborhood," the Green Dragon Bookshop in Fort Dodge, Iowa, posted.

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Serena Wolf, author of You Do You: 100+ Endlessly Adaptable Recipes to Boost Your Culinary Confidence (BenBella, $35, 9781637748763).

A new trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has been released, "teasing more gruesome scenes" from Suzanne Collins's latest novel, Deadline reported. 

Directed by Francis Lawrence, movie revisits the world of Panem and follows young Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, beginning on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. Billy Ray wrote the screenplay. The film was produced by Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, and Francis Lawrence. 

The cast also includes Elle Fanning, Maya Hawke, Ralph Fiennes, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., McKenna Grace, Kieran Culkin, Whitney Peak, Ben Wang, Lili Taylor, Glenn Close, Iona Bell, Molly McCann, and more. Sunrise on the Reaping is set for release on November 20.

The National Book Foundation has been releasing longlists for the 2026 National Book Awards this week, including most recently the Fiction category. Finalists will be announced on October 6, and winners named on November 18 at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony. The longlisted titles for fiction are:

Fiction
Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi (Knopf)
Red Ants by Kimberly Blaeser (Counterpoint Press)
Dèy by Edwidge Danticat (Knopf)
Pretend You're Dead and I Carry You by Julián Delgado Lopera (Liveright)
Python's Kiss by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
The Disappearers by Marlon James (Riverhead Books)
Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli (Knopf)
Passengers by Alexander Maksik (Europa Editions)
The Renovation by Kenan Orhan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Mad Eden by Morgan Thomas (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Helen Marshall won the C$3,000 (about US$2,155) Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic for her novel The Lady, the Tiger, and the Girl Who Loved Death. 

The judges wrote: "This brilliant literary fantasy plunges the reader into a dark and brutal world of glamour and danger as we follow a young woman and her grandmother in their attempts to tame Death. Marshall contrasts the painted glamour of the carnivalesque with the harsh dystopia of a repressive regime. This is a layered, intricate, and thoughtful fantasy blended with grim reality to create a beautifully strange fable of revenge, loss, grief, and healing. Marshall draws on history and traditional tales, weaving them seamlessly into the novel and suffusing the narrative with a dream-like feel. The prose is gorgeous throughout, while also remaining grounded, centering the reader with a deep sense of place--whether it be the city, the circus, or a small apartment. Strands of history overlap and intertwine, allowing for an effective exploration of the cyclical nature of violence on a large scale, but also delving into generational trauma and complicated family histories. The characters and setting are rich and all of the elements come together in a truly satisfying read that doesn't pull its punches but manages to leave the reader with a sense of hope as well."

Kasey Lansdale (Kyle Bri Photography)

Kasey Lansdale has been in the fiction world since birth, as a writer, editor, audio book narrator, and creative professional. Lansdale lives in Los Angeles and serves as head editor at Pandi Press. Her short stories have been published in numerous anthologies, and her fiction has been adapted for television and comics. First Chance (Blackstone, September 8, 2026) is her debut novel, a suspenseful thriller that follows a PI hoping to start over in Hopeful, Tex., before she gets caught up in the cold case of a murdered teenage girl.

Handsell readers your book:

A female private-eye novel with a character-driven mystery full of quirky banter in the backwoods of East Texas. And there's a dog.

On your nightstand now:

On my nightstand I have a stack of books I got at the American Library Association conference in Chicago. I'm currently working my way through Becky Siegel Spratford's Why I Love Horror. I also have Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister queued up on audio.

Favorite book when you were a child:

There were different books at different times that meant different things to me. I tend to think more of series, like Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew series, Franklin W. Dixon's Hardy Boys series, Ann M. Martin's Baby-Sitters Club, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps. I certainly remember Hatchet by Gary Paulsen having an effect. And if we're going younger, Deborah and James Howe's Bunnicula, illustrated by Alan Daniel, and Jon Scieszka's The Stinky Cheese Man, illustrated by Lane Smith. It's such a hard thing to answer. And I don't know if I've ever really had a favorite anything because I tend to be somewhat mercurial.

Your top five authors:

In no particular order:

Michael Connelly. I actually started this in reverse. I had a friend who was working on the Bosch TV show and was invited to go on set for the finale episode of season one. Being there piqued my interest, so I picked up the first book in the Bosch series and became hooked.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Joe R. Lansdale. I'm a little biased, but I really think his ability for dialogue and place is unmatched. I adapted some of his work for comics, and it was then that I really understood how much was being packed into each sentence. When you're trying to break something down panel by panel, you start to understand how much is really being shoved into each word, and how intentional it has to be.

Andrew Vachss, the Burke series. The ability to place the character in the center of such evil and be somewhat unlikable themselves, yet you still find yourself rooting for them, is quite a thing. I read his first novel, Flood, in 2020, even though I've been aware of him essentially my entire life. I was so struck by how much he put into that book, and how often I still think about it. I even mentioned it in my novel as a hat tip, because it affected me so deeply.

Julia Heaberlin, a Texas author whose work I stumbled across, and then I devoured everything she had written. I think she has such a wonderful grasp of Texas and its own unique ecosystem. She writes with an elegance about Texas that I find fascinating. I started with her book Black-Eyed Susans and I am anxiously awaiting her next.

To that end, I'd say May Cobb, another female Texas author, one who really tapped into--and I mean this in the best possible way--the raunchier side of East Texas. That gritty backwards throughline that has sort of an if-you-know-you-know energy behind it. I read her work and I have absolutely zero doubt that she grew up very similar to how I did, with the same kind of people, and was able to step back and look at that in such a funny, truthful way.

Book you've faked reading:

I don't think I've ever faked a book reading, other than maybe something I was supposed to do for school. I honestly don't remember.

Book you're an evangelist for:

I hate to do this, but I'm going to. I think the book I tout the most is The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale. I think it's our generation's To Kill a Mockingbird.

It feels so self-serving to say it, but it really is true. It would be impossible that his influence didn't trickle down to me as a person and my work. It's such a unique position to be in. And I feel like I should go right now and read interviews with children of other authors, because I have a feeling they might be much more diplomatic and elegant.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I can't think of a particular book I bought for the cover, but there's no question that a cover sells copies. It's your only frame of reference most of the time when you walk into a store with hundreds, if not thousands of options. A good cover can make or break the book before it even starts.

Book that changed your life:

The first book that popped to mind was Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada. It's such an odd answer to me, when I think about it, because it's not the sort of thing I typically read, and it's certainly not the genre I'm working in. But I read it at the right time in life.

I was overseas, and there were not a lot of books in English available to me at the moment, so I picked it up and read it. Not long after I wrote what would be my first novel, One More Than the Devil. That novel is in a drawer somewhere, but it let me know I could put proverbial pen to paper in a way and length I had never explored before. I was around 20 at the time.

Favorite line from a book:

Oh gosh, favorite line from a book I mean, how do you choose? That's an unfair question and I refuse to answer on the grounds that I might incriminate myself.

Five books you'll never part with:

Five books I'll never part with, this is going to be sentimental. 100%. But it's going to be the books I read as a child. I have so many I could list here, but I'll just say anything that was part of the Little Golden Books era. I love a good foil spine.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina.

This was a really tough read, emotionally. I think it's one of those you have to reread throughout the years, and it would hit me in a completely new way at this age. It's one of those that, based on where you are in life and your age, means something different.

It really is a testament of writing truth to power.

What you are working on next:

I'm currently working on the follow-up novel to First Chance as well as putting together the introductions for my first story collection, Grim at Heart, coming out from Bad Hand Books in 2027.

An Indian student abroad in London deals with the fallout of an AI-enabled character assassination in the scathingly funny, deeply wise novel Fieldwork as a Sex Object by Indian writer, translator, and anticaste activist Meena Kandasamy (When I Hit You).

A prologue in the author's voice details a meeting with a young woman named Amrita "Amy" Chaturvedi, a critic of the Narendra Modi regime whose leaked sex videos trended online. Amy gives the author a USB drive containing the only copy of her story, written as a novel. This first-person account makes up the main narrative and begins with Amy's best friend, Nimmi, alerting her to a pornographic video that appears to star Amy. She instantly knows it's a deepfake, not just because she's never made a sex tape, but because the angles and style are nothing like hers. The video goes viral, spurred on by her standing as a student protestor and the daughter of a wealthy Supreme Court judge in Delhi, as well as her few moments on a reality TV show. "I am no longer a name. I am a trend," Amy observes soberly as hashtags accumulate. Her chief supporters are her mother, a traditional wife with "big if-there-is-a-funeral-I-will-be-the-corpse energy," and Nimmi, who often pointedly reminds Amy of her high-caste privilege and with whom Amy is secretly in love. Attempts to remove the video and track down the perpetrators of the hoax repeatedly show Amy is a modern young woman under attack for being a modern young woman. The truth about her character assassins leads her to a crucial crossroads: How radical does one need to become to fight the radicalized?

Kandasamy portrays a fiercely intelligent but privileged and naïve young woman struggling to muscle through blame, shame, and abandonment, openly calling out the cultural misogyny that has fostered her plight. The narrative voice is snappy and filled with furious, unfiltered wit; Kandasamy exhibits a clear understanding of how to package brutal truth into an arresting reading experience. Amy reflects that upper-caste men are perfect targets for indoctrination into incel culture, pointing out, "Yes, we gave the world the Kama Sutra. We also gave the world the hoax called semen-retention. Iykyk!" The inclusion of caste tensions and the repression of feminism layer political complexity around an intensely personal moment of reckoning. This vibrant outcry of a novel will leave readers entertained and shaken. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Shelf Talker: A young Indian woman studying abroad fights the fallout of a deepfake sex video in this wise, fierce novel of the personal meeting the political.