Tell us about your book.

The Tara Trilogy is a fantasy adventure based in India, featuring a flawed yet endearing protagonist, Tara. In each of the three books in the series, she is on a quest and has to face many hurdles (internal and external) before she can succeed. These quests test her courage, her morals and above all, belief in herself. India’s diverse culture and aspects of Hindu mythology are seamlessly woven into the plot to enrich the narrative, and expose many young readers to an exciting and unfamiliar (or familiar) world. Today’s middle-grade fiction abounds in protagonists from Europe or America with very few representatives of the Asian Subcontinent. This trilogy (which comprises The Third Eye, The Silver Anklet, and The Deadly Conch), I hope, will fill that gap.

In the third book in this series, The Deadly Conch, Tara has to face her last foe; her evil step-sister, Layla, who is guided by her mother, Kali, from the Underworld. Layla cunningly manipulates events so that the villagers of Morni, and even Tara’s own family, turn against her. In spite of being surrounded by family and friends, Tara is truly alone. She calls out to Lord Yama for help using the conch he has given her. He allows her to visit the Underworld to seek advice from Zara and to talk some sense into Kali. The visit to the Underworld comes at a heavy price: Tara’s own life. For the safety of her family, Tara agrees. This leads to a harrowing journey and an exciting dénouement which I will not give away at the moment.

 The first goal of The Tara Trilogy is to entertain and enthral readers so that these books, which took years to write, will be devoured within days. However, I do hope that discerning readers will instinctively grasp the character-building themes that are subtle yet ever present in these fast-paced novels and strive to emulate them. A quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson beautifully and succinctly captures the essence of this trilogy.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”.

How did you come up with the title?

Lord Shiva (The Destroyer), one of the Gods of the Holy Trinity in Hinduism, has a third eye on his forehead. Most of the time it remains closed, but when he is angry it opens and whoever is in front of him burns to death. I find this both gruesome and fascinating at the same time. This is an attribute I gave Zarku, the villain in the story, and this is also where the title comes from.

What inspired you to write your first book?

I’ve always been an avid reader but I did not start writing until early 2004. In 2003 my dad was diagnosed with cancer and within two months he passed away. It was a sudden and devastating event. As always, I turned to books to cope with this difficult time. I’d always loved fantasy and adventure as it was a form of escape from the harsh realities of life. Around the same time I also starting writing about incidents from my past so I wouldn’t forget the life we all shared as a family before we went our separate ways. These scribblings gave me the idea of writing a book to encompass everything I’m passionate about: fantasy, adventure, Indian mythology, and a really good story.  That is how The Third Eye was born.

In your own work, which character are you most attached to, and why?

Tara, for sure! There is a lot of me in her. Change is always disconcerting and at times frightening. Whenever I was faced with the unknown, I would inevitably ask myself am I up to the challenge? What if I fail? What if I embarrass myself and everyone laughs at me? It took me many years to realize that:

1. You will most probably fail at something you try for the first time, and that this is ALL RIGHT.
2. If something truly means a lot to you, you’ll try it again, and yet again, to make it work. And this is certainly true about getting my first book published. It took four years and twenty rewrites before it was published.
3. Nothing and no one can prepare you for everything you are going to face in life. The only thing you can do is to believe in yourself and go ahead with it. You might just surprise yourself.

Writing the story made me realize a few things about Tara, and about myself!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a writer?

It was when I took a writing course through the Humber School for Writers. My mentor was Tim Wynne-Jones and he noticed that I used to delay giving important information or narrating exciting events until I was well into the novel. In other words, I was always “holding back.” He shared a quote by Annie Dillard from The Writing Life. Though it took a while to sink in, it’s advice I always remember when I sit down to write. This quote is now pinned to my board just behind my laptop. I cannot help but read it every time I look up. It says:

“One of the few things I have learned about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water.”

Talking about the media, I would like to send a big shout out to Don Graves, mystery book columnist with the Hamilton Spectator, who continually provides insightful reviews of Canadian mysteries. Recently Don reviewed John Moss’ Grave Doubts - his second novel featuring the detective duo Quin and Morgan. Here’s a brief snippet from that review.

“Quin and Morgan are as quirky and dynamic a duo as there is out there fighting crime, exploring life and spinning solutions to life’s mysteries … Grave Doubts is writing that moves the mystery novel beyond the often trite label of genre fiction into crafted storytelling that delves into the energy and desperation behind actions that can both define and destroy lives.”

Click here to read the entire review.

Photo taken at Forest of Reading® Festival of Trees™ at Harbourfront Centre

Yesterday, I found myself outside amongst screaming fans numbering in the thousands … was I playing hooky from work and attending an outdoors concert? Nope, rather I was at the Festival of Trees, the culmination of the Forest of Reading Program, at the Habourfront Centre in Toronto, where Dundurn’s very own Mahtab Narsimhan won the Silver Birch Award Fiction for her novel The Third Eye! Congratulations Mahtab!

All I can say is WOW! It was a truly spectacular event!  More than 250,000 students province wide voted for their favourite book and it all culminates in a two day festival.  The Habourfront grounds were filled with tents set up for author signings, face painting, and carnival like games and were overrun with more than 6000 students who were all there to cheer on their favourite author in seven different categories. The first thought that came to my head, after thinking how on earth am I going to locate our authors was I so would have loved this when I was a kid/teen. I’ve often described my job to my friends as being part cheerleader. And it was nice being surrounded by a group of kids who love and support not only The Third Eye but also Reading the Bones by Gina McMurchy-Barber which was also nominated for a Silver Birch Award, and Perilous Passage by B.J. Bayle which was nominated for the Red Maple Award as much as I do. And I must confess that I found myself hollering and clapping as loud as the students were when The Third Eye won!

Mahtab with her award

Next up for Mahtab is The Silver Anklet, the second book in the Tara Trilogy. Watch this blog for an upcoming video interview with Mahtab.

And the winners are:

The Blue Spruce Award (kindergarten – grade two): Chester, written and illustrated by Melanie Watt (Kids Can Press)

Silver Birch Award Fiction (grade three – six): The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan (Dundurn)

Silver Birch Award Non-Fiction (grade three -six): Gold Medal for Weird by Kevin Sylvester (Kids Can Press)

Silver Birch Award Express (grade three – six): Dear Sylvia by Alan Cumyn (Groundwood Books)

The Red Maple Fiction Award (grade seven – eight): Out of the Cold by Norah McClintock (Scholastic Canada)

The Red Maple Non-Fiction Award (grade seven – eight): Royal Murder: The Deadly Intrigue of the Ten Sovereigns by Elizabeth MacLeod (Annick Press)

The White Pine Award (high-school): Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (TOR)

“The Third Eye’s protagonist is a refreshing new personality in the literary universe of today’s fantasy novels. She is not the typical teen girl who courageously rises to conquer her obstacles; Tara is a young prepubescent girl riddled with fear. Her desperate struggle to continue on through her paralyzing terror, for the sake of her brother and her village, makes her an incredibly charming character. In addition, the ending leaves an intriguing note on a magical story.”