Dispatches from Champaca: February 2023

Hello fellow book lover,

With the onslaught of summer our store has been bustling with readers and events. February was a month for fantastic book-related conversations and activities at Champaca. We had Nilanjana Roy and Aanchal Malhotra at the store – both are authors we absolutely love! 

With Aanchal Malhotra’s The Book Of Everlasting Things, we were able to host an insightful, important conversation on the craft of historical fiction, and how our political and social history shapes the present. And with Black River – a book that all of us at Champaca read and loved in December – we had a discussion on the challenges of writing crime fiction set in rural India, constructing a suspenseful plot, and how a crime novel can be much more than what meets the eye. We ended the month with a guided heritage walk around Cubbon Park with Roopa Pai and an enthusiastic group of participants. The walk helped us understand the history of the park better and it was a delightful Sunday morning activity.

In the midst of all of these events, and the day-to-day functioning of the bookstore, we’ve found ourselves taking regular pauses to gaze at the beaming Jacaranda tree outside our window. If you plan on dropping in anytime soon, you might also encounter a chirping bulbul, jumping from one branch to another. 

And of course we have welcoming bookshelves that are packed with graphic narratives, cookbooks, short stories, and Champaca favourites! In case you’re unsure of what to read next, look out for our little green staff recommendation post-its. For folks outside Bangalore, we recommended books to our readers based on the last book they read on our Instagram page last week. It was an interesting exercise to find meaningful connections between books, and to get a sense of what our readers have been reading. 

For more recommendations, and regular updates from the store, follow us on our social media pages!

Until next time, happy reading!