SPEAKER: Alka Joshi, International
Best Selling Novelist
Alka Joshi weaves stories of India with traditional life, the arts and the power of travel and fragrance to seduce, tease and entice - as do her characters. They face the pivoting culture of 1950s India and Europe while the British live in the shadows of change and their strained awareness. Tales of valiant strength, and characters that become friends, deliver a glimpse of India’s magic.
The Henna Artist was devoured by many book clubs including Reese Witherspoon’s. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and is being made into a Netflix series starring Freida Pinto. Readers have avidly consumed Joshi’s subsequent books.
Alka Joshi received a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. A former advertising copywriter and marketing consultant, Alka was born in the Indian state of Rajasthan and came to the US as a child. She breathes life into her characters from the Monterey peninsula.