Her debut novel, Sari, Not Sari, is an ode to her own personal dating experiences, during which she honed the art of writing the perfect break-up email/text. Sonya Singh is a former entertainment reporter turned communications professional who has followed her dream of telling stories in front of the camera and now behind the scenes. #DESIBOOKSDISCOURSE WITH SONYA SINGH, SONYA LALLI, AND MANSI SHAH - INTRODUCTION Sonya Singh, Sonya Lalli, and Mansi Shah discuss the importance & necessity of South Asian women-centric fiction and their individual book journeys. The discussion closes with a round of writing-themed “would you rather.” The group also talks about how their Indian identities have informed their writing, how their cultural pride has grown through the act of writing, the importance of writing authentically, and the delight in their relatable books finding a wide readership. They address diversity in the romance and women’s fiction world and how it is improving, relating personal stories of being initially told that there was “no room” for “ another South Asian story” and discussing the recent “racial reckoning” in North America that is leading to better representation in the book world today and to the publication of far more books by South Asian authors. They talk about their writing journeys-from refusing to give up while finding an agent and a publisher, to finding support amongst other authors (South Asian or not), to the pros and cons of building a social media presence. In this #DesiBooksDiscourse episode, we have the writers Sonya Singh, Sonya Lalli, and Mansi Shah discussing why South Asian women-centered fiction is important and necessary. #DesiBooksDiscourse is available as video on Spotify, Anchor, and Youtube, and as audio on the rest of the platforms. Hello and welcome to Episode 76 of Desi Books-news and views about desi literature from the world over. (available at Youtube, Anchor.fm, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Breaker, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Overcast )

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