Episode 7: Megha Majumdar on A Guardian and a Thief, writing full-time, and trusting the process

About the episode

In this episode of Always Bring a Book, I sit down with bestselling author Megha Majumdar to talk about her new novel, A Guardian and a Thief, an Oprah’s Book Club pick and finalist for the National Book Award.

Megha shares why she structured the novel over seven tense days, how an earlier ten-day draft had to be abandoned, and what it really means to “listen” when a book tells you it wants to become something else. We talk about the house at the center of the story, the hard-earned wisdom of cutting hundreds of pages in pursuit of a sharper, more urgent narrative, and her decision to step away from her role as Editor-in-Chief at Catapult to focus on writing full time.

About the author

Megha Majumdar is the author of the novel A Guardian and a Thief, which is an Oprah’s Book Club pick, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Award, and the winner of the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. A Guardian and a Thief is also a New York Times notable book, a Washington Post notable book, and one of the ten best books of the year per The Atlantic and TIME Magazine.

Her first book, the New York Times bestselling novel A Burning, was a TODAY Show Read With Jenna book club pick and a National Book Award nominee, among other honors.

Her work has been supported by the Whiting, Civitella Ranieri, and Hawthornden foundations. Born and raised in Kolkata, India, she now lives in New York.

Intro music by: Trevor Vaughan