A place where one can rewrite one’s destiny
From being into communications and marketing to working on experimental feminist fiction, author Aditi Khorana has donned plenty of professional caps. With the release of her new book, The Library of Fates, we chat up the wordwiz on her passions and inspirations and the importance of failure towards the stairway to success. “My childhood was scattered around India, Denmark and New England,” she says, stating the varied sources of inspirations she has had growing up.
A BA in International Relations and an MA in Global Media and Communications later, Aditi is now in the act of writing contemporary, dark themes. “Things that challenge the conventions of the novel as well as the conventions that women are often forced to abide by,” says Aditi.
Her second book, The Library of Fates, revolves around Princess Amrita of Shalingar who has it all made, until a mistaken alliance occurs, turning her life upside down. The rest of the story is about a long and arduous journey to find the Library of All Things, a mythical place where one can rewrite their own destiny. Joining Amrita on this path is a young oracle, Thala, with her own troubled past. “I wanted to write a book about a young woman who has always been loved and had everything she ever needed and to see what happens when all of that is taken away. I was fascinated with this question of who you become when life is stripped down to its bare essentials,” relays Aditi, talking about her primary inspiration behind the book.
The struggles of her refugee grandparents, who came to India post Partition, mingle with the need to discuss the intersection of feminism and colonialism in Aditi’s writing. She believes growing up in three different countries greatly influenced her writing style, which she doesn’t want to constrict within a particular genre. “The Indian chaat, the Danish pastries and my father’s home cooking in New England — all have contributed to who I am,” asserts the now LA resident, who spends her free time reading, hiking, and exploring LA’s eclectic and wonderful architecture.