Update from Kia
You know those cryptic messages that people like to post on social media about their success? (E.g. “I just received some big news, but can’t say what it is yet! Watch this space!”) Honestly, I find them kind of annoying, which is why I’ve kept quiet about my big news for four long months.
BUT – given that Waterstones have announced it this morning – I can finally tell you that Those People Next Door is August’s Waterstones Thriller of the Month! It’s hard to explain what this means for an early-career author. In summary, my book will likely be in the window of every Waterstones in the country. It will get in-store displays and dedicated tables (something I’ve never had).
After slowly and steadily growing my readership over the course of my last three novels, this feels like a step change. I’m getting billboards and posters on the London Underground FFS – over 80 of them no less. 🤯 (Look out for them from mid-August and please tag me in the pictures.)
I have to admit that a tiny, toxic part of me wondered if the fact that I’m a “diverse writer” helped my book stand out. I realised that this was a shitty thing to think when I met a Waterstones decision maker and they told me that it was the Times review that made a difference (the one that likens me to Austen 🥳). I’m annoyed that the thought crossed my mind. I’ve worked my arse off writing and promoting my books and I know that they deserve the billboards and posters. I’m really bloody proud of myself and the team that helped me get here.
With that in mind, I’m not going to be coy about asking: please raise a glass to me the next time you have a drink and please buy a copy of the book.
Until next time.
Kia
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New books by British-Asian authors
3 August 2023
Those People Next Door
Salma Khatun is extremely hopeful about Blenheim, the safe suburban development to which she, her husband and their son have just moved. Their family is in desperate need of a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like the place to make that happen. Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in their front garden. Initially, she chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. […]
3 August 2023
Story of Now: Let's Talk about the British Empire
The UK was once a huge global superpower. Bigger than the Roman Empire. Bigger than the Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, Mughal, Ottoman or any other European, Asian, African or American power. Its influence was felt in countries all over the world, but it didn't just affect countries over there. It affected everything about the islands we live on today. It affected the language we speak, the food we eat […]
3 August 2023
Geoffrey Gets the Jitters
From the creator of Barbara Throws a Wobbler, the ultimate story to chase (and laugh) your worries away. Geoffrey's got the jitters! It started last night when he was thinking about school – a funny, wiggly feeling in his tummy that grew and grew. But when Geoffrey's tummy jitters started talking to him, that's when he knew they were out of control. Geoffrey had to do something. […]
10 August 2023
Death of a Lesser God
Can a white man receive justice in post-colonial India? Bombay, 1950. James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father forces a new investigation into the killing. The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old […]
17 August 2023
Why Don't Things Fall Up?: and Six Other Science Lessons You Missed at School
Do you ever look up at a cloud and think, where do those come from again? Do you know your molluscs from your mammals and your rocks from your minerals? Have you forgotten what the non-edible version of the Milky Way is, and did you ever know what a force was? Why Don't Things Fall Up? will gently remind you of everything you definitely learnt once upon a time, but have somehow forgotten along the way. […]
31 August 2023
In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen: Book 1
In the lakes, the wolf queen sharpens her spear. In the mountains, an ancient girl opens an eye. In the forest, an orphan is summoned by the trees. Our story has begun … Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen's tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat. Until one day when a mysterious earthquake shakes the land and her older sister Hari vanishes in its wake. […]
31 August 2023
Grimwood: Attack of the Stink Monster!
A Bigfoot is on the loose! Ted, Nancy, Willow and the rest of the Grimwood gang must embark on their greatest adventure yet to save their home from a nasty, thieving stink monster. Monster hunters are GO! Fully illustrated throughout and full of heart, laughs and surprises, this is the must-read third title in the bestselling and fantastically funny Grimwood series. […]
31 August 2023
The Cookie Culprit (Meet the Maliks – Twin Detectives)
Meet Maysa and Musa Malik. They might be twins but they are total opposites. And together they make an unstoppable team, especially when trying to solve a mystery! Maysa Malik just can't seem to be good like her twin, Musa. So, when she isn't allowed to go on a school trip, Maysa tries to change her parents' minds […]
Books out last month
6 July 2023
The Centre
Welcome to The Centre. You'll never be the same. Anisa Ellahi spends her days writing subtitles for Bollywood films in her London flat, all the while longing to be a translator of ‘great works of literature’. Her boyfriend Adam’s extraordinary aptitude for languages only makes her feel worse, but when Adam learns to speak Urdu practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret. Adam tells Anisa […]
6 July 2023
Let's Talk: How to Have Better Conversations
How do you talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to you? What happens in the brain when we're having a good conversation? What have smartphones done to how we connect? Conversations are broken. And while effective dialogue is supposed to lead to greater fulfilment in our personal and professional lives, all the scientific evidence points towards us sharing fewer interactions than previous generations. From ever decreasing face-to-face meetings to […]
6 July 2023
I Wish We Weren't Related
Reeva Mehta is thriving. Consumed in her career as one of London's top divorce lawyers, she doesn't bat an eyelid when her mum calls to tell her that her dad is dead. Because he's been dead since she was five … hasn't he? If finding out her dad was alive – until last week – wasn't bad enough, his last request was for his daughters to spend fourteen days in mourning at his house. […]
6 July 2023
The Destiny of Minou Moonshine
Fierce orphan girl Minou Moonshine lives with her grandmother on a makeshift barge in the shadow of the General’s palace. Under the tyrant’s rule, life in Moonlally is hard: the monsoons have failed and worship of their goddess, the Dark Lady, is forbidden. When Minou’s beloved Dima is murdered, she joins the secretive Green Orchids, rebels plotting to overthrow the General. […]
20 July 2023
These Impossible Things
‘They recognised that they were all existing in a perfect moment, and eventually it would have to end. Other times it felt like it would always be this way.’ These Impossible Things charts the dreams and disappointments of a group of British Muslim women: Jenna, Kees and Malak. They have been friends for years, the three of them together against the world. Yet one night changes everything […]
20 July 2023
Baby Does a Runner
Sometimes you need to run to find out where you really belong. Baby Saul has had it with just about everything. She's fed up with her job and her colleagues, her love life is permanently casual, and underpinning everything is the recent grief of losing her much-loved dad. Oh, and if her mother and the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, Baby might just lose it. […]
Editor’s choice
The book I’m most excited about…
Um, can I say Those People Next Door this month? 🙈
Salma Khatun is extremely hopeful about Blenheim, the safe suburban development to which she, her husband and their son have just moved. Their family is in desperate need of a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like the place to make that happen.
Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in their front garden. She chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. It's a small thing, really. No need to make a fuss. So Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window instead. But the next morning she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint.
This time she does confront Tom, and the battle lines between the two families are drawn. As things begin to escalate, it's clear that a reckoning is coming… And someone is going to get hurt.
Order it now from Amazon or Waterstones or your local independent bookshop.