Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi (with Joanne Joseph)
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"I love this phrase you've used - explain ourselves to ourselves."
Joanne Joseph sits down with best-selling author Alka Joshi for a rich, expansive conversation on Six Days in Bombay. Together they unpack why Alka only came to novel writing later in life, the mother whose real story became the seed of The Henna Artist, and the painter Amrita Sher-Gil, "the Frida Kahlo of India", whose bold, uncompromising life inspired the character of Mira. They talk about the responsibility of writing historical fiction with care, the meticulous research behind Alka's immersive worlds, and the layered ways women in her novels travel outward to find their way back to themselves. It's also a wider conversation about heritage, colonisation, and why literature matters as a tool for explaining ourselves to ourselves.
Alka Joshi's new book is Six Days in Bombay. Inspired by the life of Amrita Sher-Gil, it follows nurse Sona as she carries a cryptic note and four paintings across a Europe teetering toward war, in search of the truth about the woman who left them in her care, and about herself.
Alka Joshi is the best-selling author of The Henna Artist and the Jaipur Trilogy. Her books have been translated into nearly 30 languages.
Joanne Joseph is a TV and radio presenter, producer, and writer, and the author of Children of Sugarcane and Drug Muled.
Joanne Joseph sits down with best-selling author Alka Joshi for a rich, expansive conversation on Six Days in Bombay. Together they unpack why Alka only came to novel writing later in life, the mother whose real story became the seed of The Henna Artist, and the painter Amrita Sher-Gil, "the Frida Kahlo of India", whose bold, uncompromising life inspired the character of Mira. They talk about the responsibility of writing historical fiction with care, the meticulous research behind Alka's immersive worlds, and the layered ways women in her novels travel outward to find their way back to themselves. It's also a wider conversation about heritage, colonisation, and why literature matters as a tool for explaining ourselves to ourselves.
Alka Joshi's new book is Six Days in Bombay. Inspired by the life of Amrita Sher-Gil, it follows nurse Sona as she carries a cryptic note and four paintings across a Europe teetering toward war, in search of the truth about the woman who left them in her care, and about herself.
Alka Joshi is the best-selling author of The Henna Artist and the Jaipur Trilogy. Her books have been translated into nearly 30 languages.
Joanne Joseph is a TV and radio presenter, producer, and writer, and the author of Children of Sugarcane and Drug Muled.
