MEGHA MAJUMDAR was born and raised in Kolkata, India. She moved to the United States to attend college at Harvard University, followed by graduate school in social anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. She works as an editor at Catapult, and lives in New York City. A Burning is her first book. Follow her on Twitter @MeghaMaj and Instagram @megha.maj
Everyday Movement (2026) Gigi L Leung "The question raised by Everyday Movement, in all its vigor and glorious complexity, is no smaller than: What is the right way to live? This is a novel which dares to confront the borders between everyday behavior and ethical self, personal contentment and public feeling, and ultimately compels us to face who we are and who we want to be."
Every Happiness (2026) Reena Shah "A bold and moving novel with great emotional intricacy and keen attention to moral predicaments. It marks the arrival of a radiant new voice unafraid to examine love in all its forms, from the most stifling to the most freeing."
Marrow (2025) Samantha Browning Shea "Marrow is a novel with its own weather, an entrancing and eerie tale of longing, regret, and secrets, with a revelation that continues to haunt me."
We Burn Daylight (2024) Bret Anthony Johnston "A colossal achievement of We Burn Daylight is that it demands to be read in a breathless rush, and afterward, demands deepest and most private reflection."
Old King (2024) Maxim Loskutoff "Old King is an exhilarating journey through the terrain of our uneasy kinship with the wilderness. Every misdeed and every act of devotion is thrillingly, horrifically, tenderly, magnificently true in these mountains."
The Ministry of Time (2024) Kaliane Bradley "Fantastically fun and unmistakably urgent, The Ministry of Time is an ecstatic celebration of fiction in all its vehement, ungovernable, mutinous glory."
Housemates (2024) Emma Copley Eisenberg "Radiant and invigoratingly truthful, Housemates invites us to think about the community and country that are possible when we love."
The Garden (2024) Clare Beams "The Garden is a novel to devour whole. It is a page-turner, a puzzle, an assembly of piercing insights into womanhood, ambition, and autonomy, in language as bewitching as it is exact."
The Extinction of Irena Rey (2024) Jennifer Croft "Mischievous and intellectually provocative, The Extinction of Irena Rey asks thrilling questions about the wilderness of language, the life of the forest, and the feral ambitions and failings of artists."
Happy (2023) Celina Baljeet Basra "Playful, funny, and wildly free, Happy inhabits the seam between beauty and tragedy. A miraculous novel."
The Museum of Failures (2023) Thrity Umrigar "Wrenching and uplifting, lighthearted and profound, The Museum of Failures is a suspenseful, beautifully plotted tribute to the complicated yet steadfast love between parents and children."
Loot (2023) Tania James "Loot is a feast - a hugely fun novel with a delicious plot that offers delights and profundities in equal measure. Each chapter of this sprint across the world serves stunning truths about circumstance and ambition, love and sacrifice, and the fickleness of victory. I devoured this book, and remain in awe of what Tania James has created."
A History of Burning (2023) Janika Oza "Vast and intricate, alight with love and contained fury, A History of Burning is a towering debut by a phenomenal writer. A book I want to press into readers' hands and discuss for hours."
The Covenant of Water (2022) Abraham Verghese "The Covenant of Water is a brilliant novel, one I feel lucky to experience. It is enthralling; its conjured worlds vigorous and astonishing; its characters so real they call me back to their lives. I wanted to read this book for whole days and nights, and do little else."
Meet Us by the Roaring Sea (2022) Akil Kumarasamy "Akil Kumarasamy's wild, playful, terrifying, grief-struck novel Meet Us by the Roaring Sea offers an unsettling vision of the future that rises from profound contemplation of history. A spellbinding book."
Circa (2022) Devi S Laskar "Circa tells beautifully of the confines of grief, the courage that love compels, and the friendship that is at the heart of every enduring relationship. Devi Laskar is a gem of a writer."
Brown Girls (2022) Daphne Palasi Andreades "An exhilarating novel. It is alive with the complicated yet vast love of immigrant mothers, American daughters, and childhood friends. I treasure this book's artistic daring, its pathos, and its marvellous playfulness."
My Monticello (2021) Jocelyn Nicole Johnson "My Monticello is a magnificent debut that holds so much in its gaze--great love and great oppression, tremendous individual courage and systemic racism, futures of joyful justice and futures of extremism. This breathtaking, artful book is a gift."
The Archer (2021) Shruti Swamy "Shruti Swamy is a writer to celebrate. Her fiction is provocative, precise, and gorgeously inventive."
