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My guest today is Alka Joshi, author of four novels listed on Art In Fiction including Six Days in Bombay listed in the Visual Arts category.

View the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eYPoIKk9pOk

• Inspiration for Six Days of Bombay and its relationship to the real life story of artist Amrita Sher-Gil.
• Background on Amrita Sher-Gil and how her personality and sometimes shocking activities influenced the creation of Mira Novak in Six Days of Bombay.
• Why Alka chose to write a novel about a fictional version of Amrita, rather than about the real artist.
• How Alka chose to frame Mira's story by telling it through the eyes of Sona Falstaff, the nurse who cared for Mira during the last six days of her life in a private hospital in Bombay.
• Background on Anglo Indians as inspiration for the character of Sona who must navigate two worlds after her British father abandoned her and her mother.
• Mira as archetype for the independent woman of the 1930s, that there were more of them then we think.
• How Sona is most like Alka herself compared to the other characters she has written.
• The role of grief for a mother played in the novel.
• Europe in the 1930s and its parallels to India during the same period.
• Researching the novel in Paris, London, Prague, Florence, and Istanbul.
• Reading from Six Days in Bombay.
• One thing that Alka learned from writing this novel that she didn't realize before.
• Alka's next novel, due out in late 2026/early 2027 about a girl wanting to learned classical dance in India when its practice was forbidden.

Read more about Alka Joshi on her website: https://www.alkajoshi.com/

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider giving us a small donation so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Click this link to donate: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction.

Also, check out Art In Fiction at https://www.artinfiction.com and explore 2300+ novels inspired by the arts in 11 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, & Other.

Want to learn more about Carol Cram, the host of The Art In Fiction Podcast? She's the author of several award-winning novels, including The Towers of Tuscany and Love Among the Recipes. Find out more on her website.

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My guest today is Christine Ma-Kellams, author of The Band listed in the Music category on Art In Fiction.

View the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZopqRgR9xG4

• Inspiration for The Band and its relationship to pop music, K-Pop, and popular culture.
• Motivation for writing The Band as a commentary on what may be happening behind the scenes of a successful K-Pop boy band.
• The novel as a scatching indictment of fandom and how the industry often turns a blind eye to the mental health of its stars.
• How our brains are not wired for interacting via screens with people we will never meet--what this is doing to our mental health.
• Discussion of the novel's narrator and the concept of situationships.
• The role of cancel culture in the novel and in contemporary culture.
• The Band as fan fiction meets literary fiction.
• Is all fiction essentially fan fiction since we write about what we love?
• Use of first and second person in the novel--breaking the fourth wall and inspiration from the TV series Fleabag.
• Is The Band a thriller?
• Outlining vs. starting to write and hoping for the best.
• The theme of The Band.
• Reading fromThe Band.
• Things that Christine learned from writing her novel - the wisdom of authors rewarding readers.
• What's next for Christine.

Read more about Christine Ma-Kellams on her website: https://www.christinema-kellams.com/

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider giving us a small donation so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Click this link to donate: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction.

Also, check out Art In Fiction at

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider giving us a small donation so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Click this link to donate: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction.

Also, check out Art In Fiction at https://www.artinfiction.com and explore 2300+ novels inspired by the arts in 11 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, & Other.

Want to learn more about Carol Cram, the host of The Art In Fiction Podcast? She's the author of several award-winning novels, including The Towers of Tuscany and Love Among the Recipes. Find out more on her website.

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I'm speaking today with M. A. McLaughlin, author of The Lost Dresses of Italy listed in the Textile Arts category on Art In Fiction.

View the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rDe_rXrLC2k

• Overview of the story of The Lost Dresses of Italy as a dual time novel taking place in 1947 and 1864 and inspired by a three-week trip to Italy taken by Victorian poet Christina Rossetti
• Poetry of Christina Rossetti and why it has endured
• Christina's sonnet sequence Monna Innominata as inspiration for the plot
• Combining a costume history and design with the story of Christina's time in Italy
• Reasons for setting the modern story in post-war Verona
• Researching costume design and preservation
• The role of pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the novel
• Some of the challenges of fictionalizing real people
• What is it about the Romantics and Victorians that Marty is attracted to?
• Reading from The Lost Dresses of Italy
• Things that Marty learned from writing her novel - the complicated nature of Italy's participation in World War II and its aftermath.

Read more about M. A. McLaughlin on her website: https://martyambrose.com/

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider giving us a small donation so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Click this link to donate: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction.

Also, check out Art In Fiction at https://www.artinfiction.com and explore 2300+ novels inspired by the arts in 11 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, & Other.

Want to learn more about Carol Cram, the host of The Art In Fiction Podcast? She's the author of several award-winning novels, including The Towers of Tuscany and Love Among the Recipes. Find out more on her website.