Latest / Book Flood Podcast / Encore Summer 2026: Varsha Bajaj (E70)
Transcript
- Thomas Nixon: Welcome to the Book Flood Podcast. I am your host, Tom Nixon. My guest this week is Varsha Bajaj. Varsha is a New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novel, Thirst. Thirst was a global read aloud, 22-23, and on the Blue Bonnet list, 23-24. Her other middle grade novels include Count Me In and Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood She had the privilege of helping to create and write the books for the American Girl doll Kavi Sharma. It's showtime, Kavi. Varsha also writes picture books. Her latest picture book is called A Garland of Henna. Welcome, Varsha. Varsha Bajaj: Thank you, Tom. I'm so happy to be here. Thomas Nixon: and I am so happy to have you here, very excited. So let's start with having you describe your career path. How did you get to here? Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ wow, yes, you know that my career path has been unexpected. That's the best word to describe it because I didn't, I've always been a reader, but I never saw myself as a writer. And you could call writing my second career. So I came to this country in 1986 as a graduate student and I got my master's and almost doctorate in psychology. And I worked for many years in St. Louis as a bio-behavioral therapist in the hospital. And I fell in love with picture books when I had kids. because I started reading to them. It's just something that came naturally because I was a reader. I, of course, had to read to them. And like many others. thought picture books seemed easy. They're not. They're probably, they're probably the most difficult to write. But you know, ⁓ when you're starting out and you don't know a whole lot, you venture into, ⁓ adventures that maybe I wouldn't have if I'd known more about picture books, but I'm glad I did. And my first picture book was How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight? It was published in 2004 by Little Brown. And so it's celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and it is still in print, which feels like a miracle. And that's how I got started. Thomas Nixon: sure. What made you decide to become a writer? What is it that moves you in that direction? Varsha Bajaj: I do love words. I have been a voracious reader and picture books to me feel like poetry. and It's what drew me to write picture books or to try to write picture books. And, and then as my kids got a little older, I realized in the early 2000s, late nineties, when I went to the public library that I wanted to see more diverse books. I wanted to see books with all kinds of kids. And I wanted to see books that were set in different parts of the world. And I think that is what drew me to try my hand at telling my stories. You know, I grew up reading a lot of Western authors. I grew up in Mumbai, India, and I grew up reading British authors and American authors. And I felt like they invited me into their worlds through their books. And I wanted to do the same for readers. Thomas Nixon: I like that. As much as I like Beverly Cleary, for example, from my childhood, as much as I appreciated her and the mouse and the motorcycle and all of those. Varsha Bajaj: Mm-hmm. love her. Thomas Nixon: very, very white. And that was everything I read, because that's what was available. Seems like we're doing better now, but still... It's a little problematic. Varsha Bajaj: We're doing so much better. I mean, we've come a long way since the late nineties. We really have. And I think, yes, we have a ways to go, but I think that, you know, when I see the progress of the last 20 years, I feel encouraged. Thomas Nixon: Mmm. absolutely. So ⁓ read one of your books, A Garland of Henna great book. Great, great book. How did you come up with the idea for it? Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ thank you. Garland of Hanna. Thomas Nixon: ⁓ there you go. Varsha Bajaj: You know, I lost both my parents between 2016 and 2020. And it was 2021, I was actually writing Thirst. And there was something I was trying to remember. And I reached for the phone. and then realized there is nobody to call. And there was this feeling or realization that. You know, there's so many stories and skills and recipes that we pass from one generation to another. And, ⁓ and they're important, you know, they're, part of who we are. ⁓ and so I wanted to write a story that was intergenerational. I wanted to include passing off a skill. from one generation to another. Around the same time, as you know, know, no book is directly a result of any one part. Around that same time, I'd also been reading about the growth mindset. And I found myself thinking about it. You know, we kind of sometimes assume that we either innately have the ability or the skill or we don't. And we make decisions based on that. Like I decided kind of early that I was not the most athletic. And I just then thought, I should try something different. But did I put in the effort? I don't know if I did. Thomas Nixon: Mmm. Varsha Bajaj: And I think that while innate ability and talent is definitely important, what we put into it, to learning, to practicing, to working hard matters just as much. And so I wanted to incorporate that into the story and that's how Garland of Hannah came about. Thomas Nixon: Such a good book. Varsha Bajaj: Thank you. Thomas Nixon: So. Young lady from from Mumbai and you become a best-selling New York Times author. What was that like? Varsha Bajaj: So the cliche is that it was surreal. So here's the thing, I truly did not expect it. I didn't expect it. mean, I'm being honest. Because when I first had the thought for writing Thirst, I didn't even know if it would be published. Right? mean, none of us do, but there are all these things that float around, like, you know, books set in another country with a character from another culture don't do as well. You know, I don't know where they come about, but these kinds of myths or rumors go float around. And I had heard them and I thought, I don't know. don't know if anybody will pick this book up, this story. So I started out with that. And then for it to become a New York Times bestseller, you know, it just felt truly unexpected. Thomas Nixon: because there is no rhyme or reason to it. If it had dropped at a different time of year, maybe it would have been completely different. A little bit, because I do track when books come out. And so what else came out that day, that month? You know, it's... Varsha Bajaj: I don't know and you know, I think having it become a selection for Global Read Aloud. probably contributed, but you know, there's no way of knowing. But it was a wonderful surprise. Let's put it that way. Thomas Nixon: So what's next for Varsha? Varsha Bajaj: I am working on a new middle grade and I believe it comes out in May of 2026. And it's the story of a boy and a few tigers. And it's set in a tiger sanctuary in India. ⁓ also have a few picture books that are lined up. One that comes out next year, is called Family of Friends, and it's illustrated by Isha Lobo. And again, that one was inspired by the fact that In this last whatever 50s or so years, we've all become so mobile and spread apart, whether you're an immigrant or not. That's, that's a whole other, ⁓ movement, but even my friends who are American, their parents are on the West Coast, the East Coast, everybody is all spread out. But we still keep our family and then we form families or friends. Thomas Nixon: Hmm. I like that. Varsha Bajaj: And I think those, right? And those families that we form that are made up of friends are so important to us. So that's what that picture book's about. And then I have a couple more. I believe one in 20. 26 is next year. No 25 is next year. So 26 and 27 and 28 something like that Thomas Nixon: I always like to point out to my listeners and to anybody, so that's like four or five books that you have that you're all working on at the same time. I don't think people realize that that's a little bit, that's how you have to make a living as a writer is it's often not one book in the pipeline, it's multiple. Varsha Bajaj: You know the picture books honestly though are done. My role is done and they are in the hands of illustrators. And they are doing their bit. So I am right now focusing on my middle grade, my next middle grade. And sometimes I do work on a middle grade and maybe a picture book, but I rarely work on Thomas Nixon: Mmm. Varsha Bajaj: I don't believe I've ever worked on more than one middle grade at a time. I focus on one. Thomas Nixon: That would just be too, I get your thinking, that would just be too confusing for me. mean, with a picture book, it's shorter and you know, you can, and it's very different, but that would be very different. Varsha Bajaj: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, because with the middle grade, I really want to get into the skin of that character and I don't want anything competing with that, you know, so I don't work on more than one middle grader at a time. Thomas Nixon: I like the idea of a family of friends. I have one of those families. I have three children. One child lives in Chicago. One child lives in St. Louis. And one child lives in, as of the end of this month, Germany. Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ Wow, see there you go. You know you're all spread out. Thomas Nixon: Yeah. It's... So that's why I'm going to Germany at Christmas. Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ that will be wonderful. Thomas Nixon: Yeah, Christmas markets, all that. Varsha Bajaj: That'll be so amazing. Thomas Nixon: What advice do you have for new writers Varsha Bajaj: My first advice is read. I remember many years ago when I was first starting out, a speaker at a SCBWI conference said, if you want to write a book in a particular genre, read a hundred other books written in that genre or even a thousand. And I think it's the best advice I ever got. You really need to study and read what's been written in that genre. So that would be my advice. And my other advice is be kind. Because, you know, sometimes we have a tendency to compare our first draft or second or third to a finished book. Thomas Nixon: Mmm. Varsha Bajaj: And nothing good is gonna come out of that. You know, because... You don't know where that author started, where that writer started, because writing really is about rewriting. So if you compare your first draft or any early draft to a finished book, you're doing yourself a disservice. So, so be kind. Thomas Nixon: I liked it. Varsha Bajaj: And when I'm doing a forest draft. I try to shut my editor down in my head, my own, you know, the editor in my head. I try to shut that down because it's too early to edit. Thomas Nixon: Mmm. Varsha Bajaj: You just have to, you just have to write it. Thomas Nixon: That's, think, good I just got that advice in an earlier podcast this morning I was recording. And Rudis Cepetes and Steve Schenken, for their new book, it was exactly the same thing, is sort of get it on paper, then you can fix that. But that first draft is gonna be bad, and that's just the reality. Varsha Bajaj: Steve Schenken. Right, because you can't revise a blank page. Thomas Nixon: Right. Varsha Bajaj: I mean, I wouldn't know how to revise a band of paint. So just get it down. And in those early stages, be kind to yourself. Thomas Nixon: What advice do you have for writers who are writing cross-culturally? I imagine that your books are read more by Americans than they are by people from India. Just a sheer number sort of thing. What advice do you have for folks doing that? Varsha Bajaj: I grew up reading Anne of Green Gables and Nancy Drew. among others. I didn't care that I had nothing in common with Anne. Her problems seemed real to me and I worried about her. And I've thought of that long and hard. And I think that... You have to create a character that feels real. That is the most difficult thing and the most important thing. Because if you create a character who feels real, kids will identify with that character. And I have been visiting innumerable schools across the country. And I am just amazed at the reaction. There was a little girl who ran up to me in Westchester County, New York, between presentations. And she came to me, Caucasian girl, and she said to me, do you think Minnie would want to be my best friend? And I was about this close to bawling because I thought, okay, this is what I did all those drafts for. Thomas Nixon: all I can imagine. Varsha Bajaj: You know, because if she feels real to this little girl who wants to be her best friend, then I succeeded. So I would say work really hard to make your characters jump off the page. Thomas Nixon: What is a book or a series of books from your childhood that still resonate with you? Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ well, I mentioned Anne, I've mentioned Nancy Drew and you know, some people, ⁓ some reviewers called Thirst a literary mystery. And I think that, ⁓ that, that whole Nancy Drew thing has come seeped into my writing because I liked was a page turner and and as a child I needed that plot to keep me turning pages. So I think I've been influenced by all of those books that I read as a kid but to go back to Anne you know she was an orphan and I worried all through that book that they were going to send her back to the orphanage. Now boy, those were some stakes. So. I just loved my books. I loved that they took me to all these different parts of the world. And I think kids have a hunger for that. Thomas Nixon: What are you reading now? Varsha Bajaj: I am reading Finding Margaret Fuller. It's an adult novel by Alison Pataki and it's amazing. ⁓ it's set in the 1800s. But before I started that, I finished Elf Dog and Owl Head by M.T. Anderson. Thomas Nixon: Nice. Varsha Bajaj: So I kind of go, I alternate between a middle grade and then an adult. Thomas Nixon: I tend to do that too. You want to keep current with what kids are reading, of course, but also you have interest in what adult books are like. Varsha Bajaj: ⁓ yeah, yeah, so yeah, that's what I'm reading right now. I have a stack on my bedside table and... There's always books to be read. Thomas Nixon: ⁓ absolutely, absolutely. Well, I want to thank you, Varsha, for coming on the Book Flood podcast. I greatly appreciate it. For our listeners, please like, subscribe, and share wherever you are listening to us at. Again, thank you, Varsha. Varsha Bajaj: Thank you, Tom, and thank you for the love for A Garland of Hena.