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| photo: Nina Michiko Tam | |
Vaishnavi Patel is the author of the novels Kaikeyi, Goddess of the River, and Ten Incarnations of Rebellion. Her new fantasy novel, We Dance upon Demons (Saga Press, May 12, 2026), follows a burned-out abortion clinic worker fighting to save her community from powerful threats both supernatural and mundane. Patel is a lawyer specializing in constitutional law and civil rights, including issues of gender and racial justice. She has lived in five states in the last five years, but Chicago is home.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
A reproductive rights worker starts seeing literal demons outside her abortion clinic. But the real evil might just be humanity.
On your nightstand now:
Reading before bed is too exciting; it would keep me up! I'm currently reading Empire of AI by Karen Hao and Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I have always loved reading, so I had many favorite books. A foundational story for me is The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It's a picture book about a young princess who outsmarts a dragon to rescue a prince--when the prince proves ungrateful, she leaves him in the dust. I loved the story so much, I forced my younger sister to put it on as a play for my parents. I played the paper bag princess, of course, and she played the dragon!
Your top five authors:
This is such a hard question! I read a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and I love most genres, so I have favorites in every category. I would say Patrick Radden Keefe for investigative nonfiction, Mary Beard for historical and feminist nonfiction, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for genre-spanning South Asian fiction, Kazuo Ishiguro for literary fiction, and Terry Pratchett for fantasy.
Book you've faked reading:
As an adult, I'm a proud and open DNF-er. However, in high school I wanted my English teachers to like me, so I absolutely faked reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Sorry, Mrs. Foster.
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. I was hooked from the first chapters of Jade City and every book got better and better. There's incredible action, exquisite character development, and smart political world-building. I sobbed at the ending of Jade Legacy. I've made all my friends read it.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon was a cover buy for me because of the striking color contrast. It ended up being one of my favorite historical novels of all time!
Book you hid from your parents:
I never hid my reading from my parents! They let me check out whatever I wanted from the library, and trusted that if I encountered new or mature content, I would ask questions (which I did). I was, and am, very fortunate for my family.
Book that changed your life:
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I read this book in college as a history nerd, thinking I was already going to know most of what it said. I was so wrong. It changed the way I look at history and the world around me, and made me forever skeptical of any historical narrative that hinged on great man theory. Oddly, perhaps, the book made me more patriotic--as a civil rights lawyer, I stand on the shoulders of so many people, seemingly ordinary but absolutely extraordinary, who have fought for justice. That idea inspires me every day.
Favorite line from a book:
"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo." If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell. It's a line from Virgil's Aeneid that I first encountered in Latin class. I remember gasping when I translated it. The line has stayed with me as I've become a civil rights lawyer. It's hard to persevere in the face of repeated losses, but we can remember that millions have struggled before us and take heart. It's also an attitude that every main character I write embodies in one way or the other.
Five books you'll never part with:
Of course I have to start with my childhood copy of The Paper Bag Princess. I can't wait to read it to my daughter one day. I have a first U.S. printing of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo that was gifted to me by a beloved high school teacher. It is one of my most prized possessions. I also cherish my tattered copy of Eragon by Christopher Paolini, which is the first book I ever bought in a bookstore and was my airplane read for years. A friend gave me a gorgeous hardback edition of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal (my favorite Discworld novel) that always has a place of pride on my shelves. And finally, I've worked to find copies of the Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command) by Timothy Zahn, some of the first Star Wars novels and my gateway into adult SFF.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Either Liz Moore's Long Bright River or John Boyne's The Heart's Invisible Furies. They are very different books, but both had reveals that reframed the whole story and I would love to experience the feeling of it all clicking for the first time again.