Behind the scenes of an audiobook… Meet the author, the actress and the wonderful woman who helped shape this story.
`A House Called Askival` is my debut novel, published in 2014. But it goes back to my school years in the Indian Himals in the `80s where I loved mountains, literature, music and theatre. I was in a play with Shena Gamat, who has gone on to work as a actress in Delhi and Bollywood. Our Head of English then was Kathy Hoffmann, also my mentor when I returned as a young teacher of English, dance & drama in 1992.
13 years later and living in Scotland, I started writing my novel, set back in that hill station of Mussoorie. Kathy read multiple drafts and gave feedback till, 8 years after starting it, I signed a publisher`s contract and it came out the following year – June 2014.
Spanning over 70 years of India`s history from Independence and Partition to 2007, it follows the struggles of a nation through three generations of an American family and the Indians they live amongst. In the novel, a high school musical production is upended in Delhi by the assassination of Indira Gandhi and subsequent riots in 1984 – based on real events that Shena and our other school friends experienced.
In a tenth anniversary celebration last year, I commissioned Shena to narrate the audiobook in a studio in Delhi and ran a Kickstarter to raise the funds. THANK YOU to everyone who supported that! The recording is superb and we are very proud of it.
We would be so honoured for you to join us in this online launch on Indian Independence Day, 15th Aug. The event will include myself and Shena in conversation with Kathy; excerpts from the finished audiobook; an Indian music video featuring fellow schoolmate, Chris Hale, and more.
All bookings via Eventbrite: see link in comments.
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@southasianheritagemonth_uk @woodstockalumni @mussoorieheritagecentre
