"Bucket of Cherries" is a Winning Entry for NEW ASIAN WRITING 2017 Short Story Competition

So happy that my short story Bucket of Cherries was a winning entry for New Asian Writing Short Story Competition. See enclosed link to read full story: http://www.new-asian-writing.com/bucket-of-cherries-by-rajni-mala-khelawan-new-asian-writing-short-story-competition-2017-prize-winning-entry/

Rajni Mala Khelawan: The Entitled Interview with Open Book Toronto

Rajni Mala Khelawan: The Entitled Interview with Open Book Toronto

Book Signing at Canmore Cafe Books

I had an amazing time last week signing copies of Kalyana at Canmore Cafe books. Such a lovely place to visit with excellent friendly staff. Cozy little place that should be on everyone's must visit list.

South Asian Heritage Month

To celebrate South Asian Heritage month, I will be reading from my newest novel Kalyana at Toronto Public Library at 2 pm on May 13 (Friday). So please come on down! It is an open invitation to all Torontoians!
http://members.openbooktoronto.com/news/entitled_interview_with_rajni_malal_khelawan

Kalyana Book Launch (Photo Credits: Kevin Greenhough)

The Entitled Interview with Open Book Toronto

http://members.openbooktoronto.com/news/entitled_interview_with_rajni_malal_khelawanI was so pleased to discuss how I came up with the title for Kalyana with Open Book Toronto. Follow link to read full interview.

Highlights of the Book Launch

The evening lasted beyond the scheduled 2 hours, glad to see. People engaged in lively discussion afterwards, while enjoying jalebi, barfi, tea, coffee, and mango juice.

A few key items from my speech:

I expressed my most sincere gratitude to my publisher, Margie Wolfe, for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to showcase my work, and the team of Second Story Press, mainly Carolyn Jackson for overseeing the production of the novel, and Melissa Katta for such a gorgeous cover. I thanked my editors, Patricia Kennedy and Christina Frey. And Carmen Wittmeier for helping me develop as a writer over the last 10 years. I said thank you to Will, Owner of Shelf Life Books for giving such a great location to launch Kalyana, and Kevin, the events organizer for overseeing everything. And thank you to Allie and Emma for doing such a great job promoting Kalyana.

I talked about what inspired me to write Kalyana and read a bit of Chapter 1 and Chapter 26 of the novel.

All in all, it was such a great night!