Ask the Author: Tasha Suri
Answered Questions (4)
Tasha Suri
Hi Sarah! Fancy seeing you here.
My favourite day-to-day tea is - boringly - a basic black, English Breakfast tea with semi-skimmed milk. I just really love it though. I also really love proper masala chai, full of ginger, spices and tons of sugar. If it isn't sweet enough to hurt my teeth, I don't think it's right. Tea preference is definitely nurture in my case. I drink what my family drink.
Cats are not forming a secret cabal to take over the world, because they're too busy trying to kill each other to properly subjugate humanity. Thank goodness, right?
The journey to publication has been a totally new experience for me, so it's been exciting but also stressful. The oddest thing is how my normal life has continued - I somehow thought getting a book deal would make it different, somehow, maybe more glamorous? But not really. All stress and excitement aside, I've been particularly lucky to be supported by a great team, including an excellent editor. ;)
My favourite day-to-day tea is - boringly - a basic black, English Breakfast tea with semi-skimmed milk. I just really love it though. I also really love proper masala chai, full of ginger, spices and tons of sugar. If it isn't sweet enough to hurt my teeth, I don't think it's right. Tea preference is definitely nurture in my case. I drink what my family drink.
Cats are not forming a secret cabal to take over the world, because they're too busy trying to kill each other to properly subjugate humanity. Thank goodness, right?
The journey to publication has been a totally new experience for me, so it's been exciting but also stressful. The oddest thing is how my normal life has continued - I somehow thought getting a book deal would make it different, somehow, maybe more glamorous? But not really. All stress and excitement aside, I've been particularly lucky to be supported by a great team, including an excellent editor. ;)
Tasha Suri
Hi! I'm so glad you enjoyed the ARC, and thank you for telling me. :)
I found it difficult to find useful general resources about the Mughal Empire. Generally I think it's always tougher to find an 'in' to non-western history, whereas there are loads of easily accessible resources about, say, the Tudors. But I won't rant.
A Brief History of the Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascgoine is a nice, affordable and accessible book. He also did a documentary on the Mughals which may or not be on YouTube. Cough. (Just search his name and 'mughal'.)
The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors by Abraham Eraly is a very readable book. I found it really useful and fun to read, even though it's very long and ever so slightly biased.
I hope that gives you a good place to start. Feel free to prod me on Twitter (@tashadrinkstea) if you'd like more specific recs.
I found it difficult to find useful general resources about the Mughal Empire. Generally I think it's always tougher to find an 'in' to non-western history, whereas there are loads of easily accessible resources about, say, the Tudors. But I won't rant.
A Brief History of the Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascgoine is a nice, affordable and accessible book. He also did a documentary on the Mughals which may or not be on YouTube. Cough. (Just search his name and 'mughal'.)
The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors by Abraham Eraly is a very readable book. I found it really useful and fun to read, even though it's very long and ever so slightly biased.
I hope that gives you a good place to start. Feel free to prod me on Twitter (@tashadrinkstea) if you'd like more specific recs.
Tasha Suri
Hi Sadaf, thank you! I started my research the usual way, on Wikipedia. ;) I was also lucky enough to visit Mughal sites in India for inspiration: Amar Fort and City Palace in Jaipur, the Taj Mahal and Red Fort in Agra, and Humayun's Tomb in Delhi. I usually go to India (I live in the UK) to visit family, but they were very understanding when I ran off on a research trip!
Since then I've read a number of books. I didn't find all of them equally as useful, but they all contained ideas, theories etc that helped me come up with EMPIRE OF SAND. This isn't a complete list, but these are the ones I can remember:
The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors by Abraham Eraly
A Brief History of the Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascgoine
Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty
The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture by Annemarie Schimmel
Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor by Fergus Nicoll
Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire by J.P. Losty
Baburnama by Babur (translated by Annette S Beveridge)
Humayun-nama by Gulbadan Begum (translated by Annette S Beveridge)
Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World by Ruby Lal
Aurangzeb by Audrey Truschke
Ain-i-Akbari/Akbarnama - not sure which translation I have, sorry
Mughal India: Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society and Culture by M. Athar Ali
Since then I've read a number of books. I didn't find all of them equally as useful, but they all contained ideas, theories etc that helped me come up with EMPIRE OF SAND. This isn't a complete list, but these are the ones I can remember:
The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors by Abraham Eraly
A Brief History of the Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascgoine
Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty
The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture by Annemarie Schimmel
Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Emperor by Fergus Nicoll
Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire by J.P. Losty
Baburnama by Babur (translated by Annette S Beveridge)
Humayun-nama by Gulbadan Begum (translated by Annette S Beveridge)
Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World by Ruby Lal
Aurangzeb by Audrey Truschke
Ain-i-Akbari/Akbarnama - not sure which translation I have, sorry
Mughal India: Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society and Culture by M. Athar Ali
Tasha Suri
Thanks Tade, and happy publication day! I'm looking forward to seeing ROSEWATER in my local bookshop. *throws confetti*
I don't have the finished book yet, but holding the ARCs was a weirdly overwhelming experience. That feeling of 'IT'S A REAL BOOK' is very trippy.
The inside pages are far more beautiful than I'd imagined they would be, and the cover is gorgeous. It isn't anything like I imagined it would be, largely because I didn't have any idea what to expect, or what I wanted. I'm not a very arty person, so I just didn't have a vision at all. In terms of the *content* of the book, it's a lot darker and creepier than I'd though it would be, when I started drafting it. But I'm pleased with that, to be honest.
I don't have the finished book yet, but holding the ARCs was a weirdly overwhelming experience. That feeling of 'IT'S A REAL BOOK' is very trippy.
The inside pages are far more beautiful than I'd imagined they would be, and the cover is gorgeous. It isn't anything like I imagined it would be, largely because I didn't have any idea what to expect, or what I wanted. I'm not a very arty person, so I just didn't have a vision at all. In terms of the *content* of the book, it's a lot darker and creepier than I'd though it would be, when I started drafting it. But I'm pleased with that, to be honest.
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