Newbery Honor-winning children’s author, Veera Hiranandani, spoke with me about her former life in publishing, why no word is ever wasted, and her anticipated middle-grade novel Amil and The After.

Veera Hiranandani is an award-winning author of several books for young people, and a faculty member with the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Amil and The After is her latest work of children’s fiction, a stand-alone sequel to her Newbery Honor winner, The Night Diary. It was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month (January 2024).

A starred Kirkus Reviews called the book, “…a masterpiece of nuance, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. A quietly brilliant, deeply insightful story of living in uncertain times.”

Veera earned her MFA in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College and was a former book editor at Simon & Schuster.

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In this file Veera Hiranandani and I discussed:

Why writing is like slow cooking

How to write historical fiction if you’re not good at history

Why you need to follow your writerly instincts

The importance of accountability partners, learning from your mistakes

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

VeeraHiranandani.com

Amil and the After By Veera Hiranandani (Bookshop.org)

Veera Hiranandani Amazon Author Page

Veera Hiranandani on Instagram

Kelton Reid on Twitter

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