We are excited to welcome Bestselling Author Alka Joshi. Alka will talk about how she came to writing in her 50s, how the Jaipur Trilogy came about, and the real-life inspiration for Six Days in Bombay. Alka will share the story of her 10 years to publication of The Henna Artist, how she ended up writing the sequels, and the Netflix series in development. Bring your questions! A Q&A will follow.

About the Author: Alka Joshi is the internationally bestselling author of the Jaipur Trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris. Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, immediately became a New York Times Bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub Pick, an LA Times Bestseller, a Toronto Star Bestseller, an Indie Bookstores Bestseller, a Cosmopolitan Best Audiobook, and an Amazon and Goodreads favorite. It was also longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, has been translated into 29 languages, and is currently in development as an episodic series. In 2023, Forbes selected Alka as one of 50 Women Over 50 who are shattering age and gender norms. Alka was born in India and came to the U.S. with her family at the age of nine. She has a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from California College of Arts. Her fourth release (4/15/2025), Six Days in Bombay, is a sweeping travelogue spanning a young women’s journey from 1937 India to a turbulent Europe as she comes into her own. It’s Alka’s first standalone novel, and will be followed by a fifth in 2026.

This is a virtual event. Click here to register for this program!

This program is sponsored by the Cary Library in Lexington.