Excerpt:
What was the inspiration for Bravo, Anjali? It goes in a different direction from Always, Anjali! in that as Anjali gets older, some of her problems grow with her.
It’s funny; I had a completely different book in mind. I knew we were going to make a series and had a ton of ideas, as any writer does. When I was working on the initial draft, I was working in one direction. Then the world happened, with the Clinton-Trump election, MeToo. As a result, I felt really angry and saw how emotionally bereft and unadjusted so many adults are in this world. Watching the Ford/Kavanaugh hearing, I saw someone who had never been held accountable and how he wasn’t able to process feelings in a mature way. Here is someone who lived a life where so much had been handed to him and he couldn’t deal with anyone questioning him. There are so many people like him; I see them all the time and wanted to bring them into kid speak. Talk about it with kids so we can deal with this early. As we talked about before, I think it’s vital to talk with kids about difficult issues.
So I tore up my original manuscript and started from scratch. I had put an Easter egg at the end of Always Anjali to show what is coming next. It was a picture of her playing the tabla. The tabla is traditionally a male-dominated instrument. You don’t see as many women playing. So I used the tabla as a way into this narrative. Anjali plays the tabla. She’s the only girl in her class and she’s the best. This is where the story begins. It is a multi-layered story about friendship and misogyny.
Read the full interview here.
