Ontario Teen Book Fest Blog Tour – Spotlight on Aditi Khorana + Giveaway
Hi, guys! Thank you for stopping by today. I have a really fun post for you. The Ontario Teen Book Festival is coming up and if you’ve been a reader for awhile, you know how much I enjoy this event every year. This year’s lineup is fantastic and I am happy to be a part of the blog tour. Be sure to come back tomorrow when I’ll have a Q&A with Emily Ziff Griffin. Today though I am spotlighting the amazing author Aditi Khorana. I had the pleasure of meeting Aditi at last year’s OTBF and was impressed with her intelligent and thoughtful answers during the panels that I attended. I immediately went home to pre-order her upcoming book Library of Fates. I am honored to be hosting Aditi today. Please read on to learn more about the festival, along with a few words from the author, and a giveaway at the very bottom of the post. We hope to see you in Ontario in a few weeks!
What: The Ontario Teen Book Fest
When: Saturday March 3rd, 9 am to 5 pm
Where: Colony High School 3850 E. Riverside Drive, Ontario, CA 91761
Notes:
This event is FREE and UNTICKETED
There is also a FREE lunch provided by Panera Bread!
The event is sponsored by Once Upon A Time. They will have books available for purchase at the event. There will also be t-shirts and posters available for purchase as well. Their website: http://www.shoponceuponatime.com/
Please use hashtag #ontariotbf on social media
About the book
No one is entirely certain what brings the Emperor Sikander to Shalingar. Until now, the idyllic kingdom has been immune to his many violent conquests. To keep the visit friendly, Princess Amrita has offered herself as his bride, sacrificing everything—family, her childhood love, and her freedom—to save her people. But her offer isn’t enough.
The unthinkable happens, and Amrita finds herself a fugitive, utterly alone but for an oracle named Thala, who was kept by Sikander as a slave and managed to escape amid the chaos of a palace under siege. With nothing and no one else to turn to, Amrita and Thala are forced to rely on each other. But while Amrita feels responsible for her kingdom and sets out to warn her people, the newly free Thala has no such ties. She encourages Amrita to go on a quest to find the fabled Library of All Things, where it is possible for each of them to reverse their fates. To go back to before Sikander took everything from them.
Stripped of all that she loves, caught between her rosy past and an unknown future, will Amrita be able to restore what was lost, or does another life—and another love—await?
Author’s Note
Often the moral of a story is culled out at the end, but in the case of Library of Fates, I felt the need to state it up-front: when we act with only our selfish interests in mind, disregarding the rights and experiences of others, everybody loses. But when we act in the service of the greater good, even if it costs us something–even if it costs us a lot, we are deeply and profoundly transformed by love, empathy and wisdom. And so we transform the world.
I know that many on our little planet are feeling a great deal of dread and terror today; I know this because I feel it too, this unsettled despair that ascended upon me after the jolt of the 2016 election. In the weeks that followed, I couldn’t write. I was in a state of deep mourning, worried for the safety and well-being of friends and family, the state of the environment, of civil rights, of civil discourse. I had recently completed a manuscript about a louche, patriarchal dictator’s slimy advancements on an idyllic kingdom. Now, life appeared to be imitating art.
But I also knew that it was not the first time the forces of hatred and ignorance had somehow usurped power from those who seek goodness and equality. It was not the first time we had experienced grave disappointment in the systems and institutions we trust, or in humanity itself. Sadly, we know that hatred has always existed, even before this recent election.
But it stings every time, doesn’t it? It shocks us to the core, leaving us feeling exposed and raw. I am a woman, an immigrant, brown, a writer. I grew up in a world that made no effort to hide its disdain for me. I have spent a lifetime shielding myself and those I love from the contempt cast against anyone in this society who is Other.
That’s why I wrote this book, and the one before it, and why I’ll continue to write the ones that come after. Because I know that many times in our history people like you and me have had to confront a culture of malevolence and antipathy and uproot it like a weed. And then, we have to replace it with a new one. A far better one. One in which we all matter, regardless of our race, gender, religion, or who we love. One in which our stories matter.
And we will. Because we’re not broken. And we won’t be silenced. It is up to us to build webs of goodness wherever we go, up to us to uproot injustices and expose them to the light. So be brave, keep fighting, and I will fight alongside you.
About the Author
Aditi Khorana spent part of her childhood in India, Denmark and New England. She has a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MA in Global Media and Communications from the Annenberg School for Communication. She has worked as a journalist at ABC News, CNN, and PBS, and most recently as a marketing executive consulting for various Hollywood studios including Fox, Paramount and Sony.
Mirror in the Sky (Razorbill/Penguin, 2016) was her first novel. The upcoming Library of Fates (July 2017) is feminist historical fantasy, set in ancient India, and tells the story of a louche, misogynistic dictator overthrowing an idyllic kingdom, and the women who fight to wrench it back from his hands.
Aditi lives in Los Angeles and spends her free time reading, hiking, and exploring LA’s eclectic and wonderful architecture.
Find Aditi at http://www.aditikhorana.com.
Follow the Tour
FEB 19th
Spotlight on Jennifer Brody – What A Nerd Girl Says
Spotlight on Abdi Nazemian – Read Now Sleep Later
FEB 20th
Spotlight on Anthony Breznican – Starkiller Reads
Spotlight on Lilliam Rivera – Movies Shows and Books
FEB 21th
Spotlight on Jessica Cluess – The Readers Antidote
Spotlight on Cindy Pon – My Fangirl Chronicles
FEB 22th
Spotlight on Keynote Speaker Ellen Hopkins – Germ Magazine
FEB 23th
Spotlight on Aditi Khorana – Nite Lite Book Reviews
Spotlight on Mary Pearson – Adventures of a Book Junkie
FEB 24th
Spotlight on Emily Ziff Griffin – Nite Lite Book Reviews
Spotlight on Brandy Colbert – Read Now Sleep Later
FEB 25th
Spotlight on Keynote Speaker Josephine Angelini – The Readers Antidote
FEB 26th
Spotlight on Isabel Quintero – What A Nerd Girl Says
Spotlight on Amy Spalding – My Fangirl Chronicles
FEB 27th
Spotlight on Jonathan Maberry – Seeking Bazinga
Spotlight on Keynote Speaker Jeff Garvin – Movies Shows n Books
FEB 28th:
Spotlight on Ava Dellaira – Book Lovers Book Reviews
Spotlight on Kim Turrisi – Starkiller Reads
MAR 1st:
Spotlight on Jessica Brody – Adventures of a Book Junkie
MAR 2nd:
Spotlight on Robin Benway – What A Nerd Girl Says
Spotlight on Lindsey Summers – Seeking Bazinga
Giveaway
The prize for the giveaway is an Ontario TBF poster signed by all attending authors. (Please note that the signatures may vary due to author schedules, etc. but we will do our best to get signatures by all authors present.) Just go to the link below and enter via the Rafflecopter form. Good luck!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/8952c82035