Sarwat Chadda wanted to write a story about a girl, who barely scraps by living in the barren desert, has the power to make the world bloom.
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
"Storm Singer" came out of COVID, and seeing how the world coped. I saw how essential, and unrewarded, were the lowest rungs of society, like the cleaners, the cooks, the hospital staff who kept the rest of us going, and how others entirely escaped the consequences of their actions and their greed. So it translated into a story about 12-year-old Nargis, a girl who scraps a pitiful living in the barren desert, yet has a gift to make the world bloom. But not without sacrifice, and not without turning the world upside down.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
No apologies for who you are. The last few years have been tough, and they’re getting tougher. As writers, it’s our job to view the world and, though whatever genre and style we work within, reflect that world back to the reader. Fantasy is in a unique position to delve into bigger themes in a way that avoids the clichés, but some things are black and white. We’ve seen the attempts to silence an entire people, dismiss outrages being perpetrated upon tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Yet they have pride in their identity that humbles us all.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
It’s essential if you are to develop empathy, to realise whoever the stranger is, that they are you. Writing gives you a new skin, the character. I want to push the boundaries of what I write, it’s not right to be comfortable, and sometimes that means the reader isn’t comfortable, the story I’m telling may even go against what they believe in, but they need to trust that they will be safe, in the end. That’s the advantage of fantasy, you can take readers beyond the extremes of other genres, then bring them safely home. The cathartic experience is essential to a good tale.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
"Storm Singer" is inspired by my love of Indian Mythology and the Arabian Nights. Ui wanted to create a whole new fantasy world that owed nothing to the common West/European myth and legends. For me, those stories were no longer "magical," but familiar. There’s so much more out there! Plus I was fascinated by Nargis, stories start and end with character. I had an angry young girl who was easy to ignore, easy to dismiss and consider powerless, but had the potential to change the world. That’s what intrigued me the most, her courage to take the huge step the rest of us would baulk at.
What can fans expect from your book?
A ride! Go along with Nargis as she goes from the desert to the floating palaces of the sky city of Alamut! They’ll enter a fantasy world unlike any they’ve previously experienced.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
The sequel! I’m putting a final polish of "The Crow's Revenge," due up April 2026. You’ll meet Sickle in STORM SINGER, the ruthless assassin sent to hunt down Nargis, and the only characters I love more than the heroes are the villains! Then I’ve another Eastern-inspired fantasy coming out in Fall 2026, announcement soon.
