Alka Joshi

About

Alka Joshi is an Indian-American novelist born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, in 1950. She moved to the United States with her family when she was nine years old, and her experiences navigating different cultures have influenced her exploration of identity, belonging, and women’s lives. Before becoming a novelist, she worked in advertising and marketing and later pursued creative writing. Her debut novel, The Henna Artist (2020), became a New York Times bestseller and was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club. Set in 1950s Jaipur, it follows Lakshmi, a skilled henna artist who seeks independence while navigating the social expectations and inequalities of post-independence India. The novel was followed by The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (2021) and The Perfumist of Paris (2023), completing the Jaipur Trilogy. Through richly detailed historical settings and compelling female characters, Joshi explores women’s autonomy, class divisions, family bonds, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Her fiction brings the cultural richness of India to an international readership while examining universal questions of ambition and self-determination.