TATA LITLIVE

At the Tata LitLive International Literary Festival, Mumbai, 15-18 November 2018

MATHRUBHUMI

At the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, Thiruvananthapuram, 31st January to 4th February 2019

THE CAMBRIDGE CURRY CLUB

The title is postcolonial tongue-in-cheek. No curry feasts dripping off the book’s pages. Not even a whiff of tikka masala. No recipes, either. Sorry. Yes, there is life outside and beyond curry.

SUMMER OF BLUE

From the spires of Cambridge to sunny Mumbai and the shadows of war-torn Afghanistan, this offbeat story of love, loss and longing confirms that life is anything but predictable.

ABOUT SAUMYA

Saumya Balsari is an award-winning British Indian author based in Cambridge and Mumbai. She was named one of Britain’s leading South Asian women by redhotcurry.com.

ONE TO WATCH

This is fascinating. Centred on a Cambridge charity shop supporting an Indian village, it unfolds slowly in slices of the volunteers’ lives, using delightful caricatures that build to reveal a plot. However, it’s their philosophy, hopes and acceptance of life that really shine through this quietly hypnotic novel, very much another in The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency territory.

SARAH BROADHURST

POP MATTERS, USA

Balsari’s book is an easy recommendation. It shines a clear light on a number of shadowy topics, but always with a twinkle in its eye and a relatively sympathetic smile … the language and tone of the novel are lovely, without being sappy or particularly prosaic. It mocks gently, but with an all-inclusive hug.

PATRICK SCHABE

COLUMNS & ARTICLES

Saumya Balsari was a regular columnist for The Times of India (Bombay Times) and The Hindustan Times UK Edition. She has also written features, interviews and reviews for The Times of India (Bombay Times), DNA, The Indian Express, The Deccan Chronicle, Femina, Indian Post, Free Press Journal, Der Spiegel (Germany) Zee Magazine (UK), Sublime Magazine (UK), Pravasi Today, DESI, BEE and E-Magazine (USA).