Hope, fear in a changing world
From a librarian to a best-selling author, Tasha Suri says the fantasy genre gave her wings. “I chose to write fantasy because it’s what I’ve always read and loved. It’s a genre that allows you to explore questions, fears and hopes about the real world in interesting and cathartic ways,” says the author now based in London.
Her first book, Empire of Sand (Orbit, 2018), won the British Fantasy Society’s Best Newcomer Award in 2019. It is set in a world named Amrithi (a reference to the food of the gods), and follows a nomadic tribe descended from desert spirits. “When I wrote it, I was reading a lot about Mughalera India, so I decided to draw on that. I also wanted to centre a story on things that matter to me but are not often centre stage, like a woman’s power in a patriarchal world,” she says. Empire of Sand is the story of Mehr, the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother whose face and magic she has inherited.
Suri’s next work has an unusual theme too. The Jasmine Throne, out this month, is a queer fantasy love story about a princess and her maid, both of whom have magical powers.
On how the genre has changed
In the two decades since the Potter films, Suri says, there has been recognition that there is an audience among older teens, for the magic that the early Harry Potter books embodied.
In response, YA fantasy has evolved. There is adventure, of course; but also coming of age, the difficulty of deciding who you want to be, and how to grapple with a cruel but often wondrous world when you’re not quite a child anymore, but not yet an adult with all the choices an adult has.
“I think the genre will continue to grow to encompass the dreams, hopes and fears of a teen audience living in a difficult and everchanging world,” she adds.
In another significant change, the new YA fantasy books being written on the subcontinent draw from non-western mythology, history and culture. And writers write about these worlds not as elements of the exotic, but with skill and familiarity, “for teens who want to see themselves reflected in fantastical stories, or teens who just want more variety in their reading”.