 Alka Joshi uses her writing to showcase a lesser-known side of India. Photo credit: Garry Bailey. By Anya Shukla In 2020, Alka Joshi—at 62 years old—published her debut novel, “The Henna Artist.” Set in 1950s India, her book caught the world’s attention, becoming a bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick. Joshi currently has several projects in the works: she received a Netflix deal for a TV adaptation of “The Henna Artist,” published her second book, “The Secret Keeper of Jaipur,” to acclaim in 2021, and is researching a third. That being said, Joshi’s path to this success has been circuitous. She spent the majority of her career in advertising and public relations before getting her MFA in 2008, then took 10 years to perfect her first novel. I spoke with Joshi to learn how her career path impacted her writing and what her first book meant to her.
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 Chen dreams of "one day being as fearless as a mango" (pg. 36). Photo credit: Becky Mattson on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla In his poem “Talented Human Beings,” Chen Chen confronts the reader: “Pop Quiz: Who was / Vincent Chin? Theresa Hak Kyung Cha? / Group Project: Name one book by Maxine Hong Kingston / not titled The Woman Warrior” (pg. 98). I am proud to say that I knew two out of the three! I feel very cultured. Obviously, I get Chen’s larger point with this poem: we don’t learn about or appreciate the history of Asian Americans. (And it just so happened that he chose examples of Asian Americans that I knew about.) But I’m still pretty proud of myself.
 A spooky house and a spooky family... what more could a Mexican socialite want? Photo credit: Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote her Masters thesis on “Women and Eugenic Thought In the Work of H.P. Lovecraft,” in which she discusses the intersections between science fiction, feminism, and scientific racism. It’s an interesting read, especially because bits and pieces of that early work crop up in “Mexican Gothic.” (Plus, it’s pretty accessible, as academic works go. I’m looking at you, “Algorithms of Oppression.”) Review: A young socialite in 1950s Mexico, Noemí Taboada leaves her high-society lifestyle behind in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “Mexican Gothic.” After receiving a strange letter from her recently-married cousin, Catalina Doyle, Noemí travels to the Doyle family mansion to check up on her relative. Noemí finds Catalina sick and muttering about voices in walls… and soon begins to experience strange dreams herself. To make matters worse, the locals tell her that the Doyles—Virgil, Catalina’s husband; Howard, Virgil’s father; Florence, Virgil’s aunt; and Francis, Florence’s son—are cursed.
 Laila Lalami dissects America and American citizenship in "Conditional Citizens." Photo credit: Wesley Tingey on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla It’s Olllllllll-ympic season! I have gotten so fantastically into the Olympics that it’s getting a little ridiculous. Ice hockey, speed skating, alpine skiing, that sport where they go headfirst down a super-slick ice track at 70 miles per hour, I’m watching it all. Plus, powering through five hours of NBC coverage a day leaves me almost no time to read books! Almost.
 Will Hattori Mariko embrace her water-based nature or draw on the strength of the other elements to circumvent societal norms? Photo credit: Erda Estremera on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla Loyal readers may know that one of my pet peeves is when a YA book attempts to cross over to the adult section (and vice versa). Today, I discovered a very relevant article in The New York Times—coincidentally featuring a BIPOC author, Jason Reynolds. If you want to know what YA literature should look like, I’d recommend checking it out. Not really related to “Flame in the Mist,” but just something interesting. Anyways…
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