Kolkata – soniasmusings

Meeting my literary agent, Suhail Mathur, of The Book Bakers in Kolkata

7 years ago, I met Suhail for the first time in Kolkata. I had just been signed up by The Book Bakers. I felt nervous excitement as I spoke about my aspirations in the new journey of writing. He was patient and understanding. It took me three more years to give him the manuscript of ‘Diary, Deceit and Death’ since I decided to go ahead with an MFA in 2019. And then he got me the deal for ‘The Sanyasi who became a King’ in 2023.

Two days ago, he came to Kolkata with Sumedha and Samaira for Prasun’s wife Brinda’s book launch. It was a delight to meet him in person and his rocking sense of humour put everyone at ease.

Over the past few years, every time I spoke to him, I never failed to mention how grateful I’m to have him in my life as my mentor, friend, and guide. He has never been just my literary agent but more like a younger brother to me. So when we met yesterday for a brainstorming session on our upcoming collaborations, I tied a rakhi on his wrist. This moment will forever be one of the most special memories for me.

He always jokes about how I don’t know what it means to send a short written or audio message and he has to read/hear my messages in installments. So how could I let go of this opportunity to write paragraphs for one of the most special persons in my life and writing journey? I’m sure he’s going to come back with another ‘puntastistic’ response to this

Here’s to many more amazing books, future collaborations and special moments. Come back sooner to Kolkata, Suhail!

Featured in The Statesman newspaper for being a part of the Kolkata Crime Writers Festival

The Statesman was the first English newspaper I read, or rather I was advised to read for a better command over English. To see my name and picture in the same paper for being a part of the Kolkata Crime Writers Festival at Storyteller Bookstore feels surreal. It’s equally wonderful to see both my books, ‘The Sanyasi who became a King’ and ‘Diary, Deceit and Death’ featured prominently in the article.

Baba was so excited that he immediately went out to grab a physical copy of the newspaper. I only wish Ma was still around to share this joy.

Heartfelt gratitude to my literary agent Suhail and The Book Bakers for being a part of my journey as an author. I’m grateful to my publishers – Arup Bose from Srishti Publishers & Distributors and Vishal Soni from Vishwakarma Publications for their continued support in all my bookish endeavours.

Thank you Amrita Di and Mayura for having me.

Link to the e- paper:
https://epaper.thestatesman.com/m5/4010473/Delhi-The-Statesman/18-05-2025#page/12/1

The kid’s first experience of watching theatre at the Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata

The kid’s first experience of watching theatre at the Academy of Fine Arts turned out to be memorable as it was the birthday of the theatre group ‘Bohurupi’. They brought the Halisahar Malancha group’s play ‘Nishikutum’ on stage.

At the Academy of Fine Arts

Glimpses of the Kolkata Crime Writers Festival on 29th March 2025

Kolkata hosted the first Crime Writers Festival today at Storyteller Bookstore. And it turned out to be an evening to remember with some enthralling sessions and a vibrant audience.

It was a pleasure talking about writing crime thrillers.

Thank you, Srishti Publishers & Distributors, Vishwakarma Publications, The Book Bakers for always extending your support and encouraging me

It was lovely meeting a few readers and signing copies of my books for them.

This event gave me an opportunity to interact with the noted director of Bengali movies, Mr. Arindam Sil and I could handover my books personally to him after he expressed an interest in reading them.

Hoping to see more such initiatives in my city.

Kolkata Crime Writers Festival on the 29th of March

Kolkata is having its first crime writers festival on the 29th of March at the Storyteller Bookstore, Picnic Garden from 2 to 7 p.m. I’ll be a part of the panel discussion on the topic “In Agatha Christie’s footsteps” from 4:45 p.m.

Heartfelt gratitude to my publishers Vishal Soni Sir of Vishwakarma Publications and Arup Bose of Srishti Publishers & Distributors.

Join us for some enthralling sessions on crime writing. See you on the 29th.

Glimpses of the Author Session on Jan 5th at The Storyteller Bookstore

About the evening of Jan 5th – The author session hosted by ‘Readwithus’ Book Club in association with Kolkata Bookworms at the Storyteller Bookstore turned out to be a vibrant and lively event where I met and interacted with a bunch of young and curious minds.

I ended up signing a good number of copies, posing with my readers and giving a few interviews as well.

Cover Reveal of my detective thriller -‘ Diary, Deceit and Death ‘

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of my second book in the Detective Raya Ray series.

Titled ‘DIARY, DECEIT & DEATH’, the story takes Raya into a sleepy, old town in Bengal full of palatial buildings, deadly secrets, and people one can never trust.

Caught in this deadly maze is Raya as she navigates through a case involving two families across three generations in four cities over five decades!

The cover is designed by The Book Bakers, a leading literary agency. Vishwakarma Publication, one of the country’s leading publishing houses, is publishing the book.

To learn more, pre-order this amazing book coming week onwards through Amazon India or Flipkart!

Celebrating my birthday on the 29th of May

The last couple of weeks have been way too hectic. My second book is getting ready for launch, and I’m excited about the cover image that landed in my inbox this week (I can’t wait to share it with the world now). As the book goes for printing in another couple of weeks, I’ve started proofreading my third book, which should be ready in a few months. Hopefully, the third book will be released in the first quarter of 2025.

This is what juggling work and family commitments look like

Amidst all the chaos and my son’s upcoming first-semester exams this month, I’m worried about how I’ll deal with everything happening together. But that didn’t deter us from celebrating my birthday last month on the twenty-ninth.

With the cake-cutting at midnight followed by opening the gifts from my in-laws, Baba, the husband, and my darling son, I had a lot of fun throughout the day.

In anticipation of Cyclone Remal reaching Kolkata

After the scary experience during the cyclone Amphan in 2020, Kolkata and quite a few districts of Bengal are getting ready to face Cyclone Remal within the next few hours.

This is how it began a couple of hours ago

As the wind gains force and the rain starts lashing in anger, I pray we gather enough courage and strength to face nature’s fury yet again.

It started raining now