We are about to enter the summer vacation season and you are probably looking for a new book to read on your flight, by the pool, on a cruise.
I have treat for you as I have just interviewed Indian-born author Sharon Arpana Edwards. She has just published her latest book called ‘Gullible Travels’.
This new book is must read this summer that I am sure you will not be able to put down.
So let’s get into the interview to find out more!
An Interview with Sharon Arpana Edwards
(This post may include affiliate links for more information see my disclaimer).
How long have you been an author?
My first book was published in June 2013, so it’s been a dozen years now. If you count the title I coauthored, which came out in March 2001, then it’s been two dozen years!
How did you get into writing?
When I was six years old, my maternal grandmother, who was visiting from New Delhi, noticed that I enjoyed writing poetry.
She offered to buy me a hardbound exercise book if I would write two poems every Saturday. I accepted the offer, and that’s how my literary career began.
It took years of reading and writing practice before I was ready to write a book, of course, but I am grateful for my grandma’s early vote of confidence.
A few months after I migrated to Los Angeles from Mumbai in 1999, I met an elderly lady at a wedding reception, and she hired me to coauthor her memoir.
I still remember the thrill of seeing my name on a book’s cover for the first time when the book was published in 2001.
What books have you written?
My first book, Pioneer Boulevard, was a collection of stories set in the Indian community of Los Angeles.
I wrote the first story in 2010, shortly before starting an MA in Creative Writing at Keele University, UK.
I was able to finish the first draft a year later, with the expert guidance of my tutor at Keele, novelist Joe Stretch.
The Tenth Anniversary edition, which came out in 2023, includes a bonus section with insights on the stories and some writing tips.
These are all questions I have actually been asked, mostly at author talks at public libraries, bookstores, and book clubs, but sometimes in private conversations too.
Since the publication of Pioneer Boulevard in 2013, I have authored an award-winning devotional titled The Blessing of Melchizedek (2016), and a translation of the Book of Job in limericks, There Once Was a Man Who Suffered (paperback 2022; hardback 2023).
My latest work, which was released a few weeks ago on April 29, is a debut novel titled Gullible Travels.
Gullible Travels – A Must Read this Summer
What is your your new book Gullible Travels about?
Gullible Travels is a fast-paced comedy depicting a world tour with a twist.
This press release describes it as “a whale of a traveler’s tale (minus the whale).”
Inspired by an international beauty pageant, the book’s solo female protagonist embarks on a quest to discover which nations feel most superior and why, encountering a diverse cast of characters along the way.
These include a chieftain with a penchant for puzzles, a tour guide with a penchant for puns, and a poetess with a penchant for limericks.
Sometime during the odyssey, our modern-day Odysseus is shipwrecked on an enchanted island, where she bides her time in a literary manner in a literary manor named Plumfield Hall.
Later aboard an ocean liner, she becomes embroiled in a misadventure involving a handsome stranger, a celebrated detective, and a priceless stolen artifact.
My protagonist’s interactions with the publisher who buys her travel journal form the subplot.
The editorial intern is one of my favorite characters in the book, though my favorite chapter is the one that parodies Hamlet.
I had parodied the play in a Pioneer Boulevard story where the main character is a Lady Hamlet.
But I’ve had a Hamlet obsession all my adult life, and once was not enough.
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Where can we buy your new book?
Gullible Travels is available on Amazon in the US, the UK, and other marketplaces.
It can also be purchased on Barnes & Noble online and at other retailers. I am hoping cruise lines will carry the novel in their ships’ libraries.
Do you like to travel?
I love to travel! When I was younger I wanted to become a flight attendant just so I could travel and see the world.
Thanks to a genetic quirk, I didn’t meet the height requirements, and that dream never took off (no pun intended).
The next best thing was to write a travel book, so I did.
Have you been on a cruise?
Unfortunately, I have never been on a cruise. While writing Part Six of Gullible Travels, which is set aboard a fictional ship, I had to conduct hours of research online, and that’s how I came across your blog.
I am grateful to travel writers like yourself who share their experience and expertise publicly.
The content available on sites like yours enabled me to depict my protagonist’s time on the ship more accurately and more vividly.
My editor, who has been on multiple cruises, found nothing to correct in that section—at least, nothing related to being on board a ship.
Of all the cruise blogs I read, yours was the one I referred to the most.
I even read posts that were not related to my research, because I found your blog so interesting!
I also appreciate your willingness to interview me.
What is your favourite country/city in the world?
Unlike my novel’s protagonist, I haven’t seen as much of the world as I’d like, but so far my favorite country is Scotland, and my favorite city is Agra, India.
Not only because of the Taj Mahal, but because it’s where my parents began their married life.
My older sister was born there and I wish I’d been too, but my dad was transferred to the state capital before I came along, so I can’t say my life began near one of the world’s best-known wonders.
In July 1994, shortly before traveling to the US for the first time as an international student, I visited the Taj Mahal with an aunt who lived in New Delhi.
It was a cloudy monsoon day, and the magnificent marble edifice against the backdrop of a grey sky is among the most memorable sights I have ever seen.
My mother used to say it should be seen on a moonlit night with the one you love.
That’s an experience I have yet to have, and it’s high up on my bucket list.
The Taj Mahal on a moonlit night with the man of my dreams… Now that would be a dream come true!
About the Author
Sharon Arpana Edwards is an Indian-born author in Los Angeles.
She holds MA’s in English (Pune, India) and Creative Writing (Keele, UK), and has worked as a proofreader, editor, and copywriter.
Sharon has written four books, the most recent being a debut novel titled Gullible Travels. For more information, please visit sharonarpana.com.
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Thank you Sharon for a wonderful interview, please support her and buy her new book, I’m sure you will love it.
I hope you enjoyed reading the interview with Sharon about Gullible Travels. Please share on Facebook, X and Pinterest so your friends and family can read too.
Happy Travels!
