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When I was growing up, I never got to see myself in a book. There weren't books with South Asian American characters. I'm sure they were being written. But they were not being published. I remember one day in 3rd grade
our teacher read us a bit of The Secret Garden. I sat up a little taller, recognizing Indian characters finally in a book! But I quickly realized they weren't thought of as equals by colonizers in their land. They were thought of as less than,
just there to serve the white characters the story was centering. Just there to be part of the background in their own land. Decades later, thinking back on this experience, I decided to write a story that challenges who we center and who's story is being left out
in so-called "classics", in social studies and history textbooks and classes, in hit Netflix shows... That story is STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME ( @tubooks @LEEandLOW ), out 2/23 and available for pre-order now. This story takes place in 1857, in a volatile time in South Asia,
which was being brutalized and utterly looted by European colonization. Trillions and trillions of dollars were looted from South Asia, turning one of the richest lands to one of the poorest. This money flowed west, contributing to the industrial revolution at a great cost for
the brown bodies being colonized. Their food supplies were stolen. Millions died of famines as a direct result of this. Artisans were cheated out of earnings for the incredible work only they could make through a devious system of taxing and purchasing.
Our jewels & treasures are still in British museums and in the actual crown. So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the word "loot" comes to English from South Asian languages. I hope you will pre-order STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME(support your indie bookstore if you can!)
I hope it makes readers realize that colonizers were not amazing explorers who did wonderful things. Their gains came at a great cost to the BIPOC people whose land they brutalized. I hope it makes readers question whose story is being left out. And I hope it empowers them.
