From chudails and peris to jinn and goddesses, this lush collection of South Asian folklore, myths, and legends reimagines stories of old for a modern audience.
This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of diverse stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So read on, for after all, magic has no borders.
A pair of star-crossed lovers search for a way back to one another against all odds . . .
A girl fights for her life against a malignant, generations-old evil . . .
A peri seeks to reclaim her lost powers . . .
A warrior rebels against her foretold destiny . . .
With stories by:
- Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ember in the Ashes series and winner of the National Book Award and Printz Award for All My Rage
- Sayantani DasGupta, New York Times bestselling author of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series
- Preeti Chhibber, author of Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma
- Sona Charaipotra, author of Symptoms of a Heartbreak and How Maya Got Fierce and coauthor of The Rumor Game and Tiny Pretty Things, now a Netflix original series.
- Tanaz Bhathena, award-winning author of Hunted by the Sky and Of Light and Shadow
- Sangu Mandanna, bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and the Celestial Trilogy
- Olivia Chadha, author of Rise of the Red Hand
- Nafiza Azad, author of William C. Morris Award nominee The Candle and the Flame
- Tracey Baptiste, New York Times bestselling author of the Jumbies series and Minecraft: The Crash
- Naz Kutub, author of The Loophole
- Nikita Gill, bestselling author of Wild Embers and Fierce Fairytales
- Swati Teerdhala, author of the Tiger at Midnight trilogy
- Shreya Ila Anasuya, New Voices selection
- Tahir Abrar, New Voices selection
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year for Teens 2023!Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the young adult novels Love, Hate & Other Filters; Internment; Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know; and Hollow Fires. She is also the author of the middle grade fantasy Amira & Hamza duology and the Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit comic series. She was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, garlic, and potpourri. She has lived in New York, Chicago, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango. She invites you to visit her online at samiraahmed.com.
Sona Charaipotra is the author of Symptoms of a Heartbreak and How Maya Got Fierce and coauthor of The Rumor Game and Tiny Pretty Things, now a Netflix original series. She earned a master’s degree in screenwriting from NYU and an MFA in creative writing from the New School. A working journalist, Sona has held editorial roles at People, TeenPeople, ABCNews.com, MSN, several parenting publications, the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog (RIP), and, most recently, as senior editor of trends and features at Parents.com. She has contributed to publications from the New York Times to TeenVogue. She is a former We Need Diverse Books board member, and she cofounded CAKE Literary, a boutique book packager focused on high-concept diverse titles. Find her on the web talking about books, Bollywood movies, and chai.
Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond middle grade fantasy series, which includes The Serpent's Secret, Game of Stars, and The Chaos Curse. She is also the author of She Persisted: Virginia Apgar and a freestanding Kingdom Beyond novel, Force of Fire. She's a pediatrician by training but now teaches narrative medicine at Columbia University. When she's not writing, reading, or teaching, she spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her dog, Khushi, from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags.
Sangu Mandanna was four years old when she was chased by an elephant, wrote her first story about it, and decided this was what she wanted to do with her life. Seventeen years later, she read Frankenstein. It sent her into a writing frenzy that became The Lost Girl, a novel about death and love and the tie that binds the two together. Sangu lives in England with her husband and son.
Tracey Baptiste is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novels Minecraft: The Crash, The Jumbies, Rise of the Jumbies, and The Jumbie God’s Revenge. A former elementary school teacher, Tracey is now on the faculty at Lesley University’s creative writing MFA program. Raised in Trinidad until she was fifteen, she now lives with her family in New Jersey. You can visit her online at traceybaptiste.com.
