Forsyth Reads Together: An Evening with Chitra Divakaruni

 

Over 200 people came to the Forsyth Conference Center on Tuesday night to listen to and meet bestselling author Chitra Divakaruni. She was an excellent speaker and knew just how to draw the audience in with personal stories. Chitra shared the dramatic story of how she came up with the idea to write One Amazing Thing.

It was during a hurricane evacuation from her Houston home that Chitra said she witnessed the very best and the very worst in people. She wanted to capture this in a novel and needed to think up an emergency situation. Her years living in San Francisco provided her with the perfect natural disaster: an earthquake. 

The audience was also treated to two readings, which she peppered with footnotes that included personal details about why certain ideas with included in the book. Near the end of the talk, Chitra treated the audience to an uplifting story of Divakaruni's own personal 'one amazing thing' moment which involved hiking in the Himalayas, extreme danger, and a mysterious stranger. It was quite a story and left us all wondering what our own 'one amazing thing' story might be. 

A View from the Author's Table by Sarah Brubaker:

I had the pleasure to sit beside Chitra Divakaruni while she signed copies of her books at Forsyth Reads Together. She sat at her author's table for well over an hour to greet each of her adoring fans--and they certainly were adoring! I heard well over forty people say that one of Chitra's books was their favorite, with The Palace of Illusions receiving particularly high praise. Many of the fans were women who had immigrated from India who said reading Chitra's books made them feel seen. They loved hearing stories that celebrated the strength of Indian women. Chitra's fans asked for her to sign these books so they could add them to their own collections, give them away as gifts, or pass them on to their children. Some copies of the books were brand new, purchased before the signing, while others were well-loved and worn, clearly read many times over the years. Chitra delighted every time someone brought up a copy of one of her books with the Indian covers, which were vibrant and colorful. Many of her fans came with a stack of books to sign, and they were eager to get their photos taken with Chitra as well. Chitra engaged each of her fans with a brilliant smile and an encouraging word. To fans who expressed confusion over the ending of One Amazing Thing, she leaned in close and whispered, "That's because I've invited you, the reader, to talk about your one amazing thing--and now you are a part of the story, too."