21 Fantastic Failures
Rupa Publications
21 Fantastic Failures brings to you the real-life stories of icons from business, science, technology, politics, sports, literature, art, film, TV and music, highlighting the points in their lives where each of them failed but, undeterred, decided to pick themselves up and forge ahead. The decisions they made in those moments converted their setbacks into triumphs and etched their names in history.
Covering biographical details, trivia and learnings from the way each figure tackled failure, the lessons within the book can be applied in not just professional but also personal spheres. Every chapter is presented in a simple, entertaining way to serve as a practical guidebook for twenty-first century readers.
Contains chapters on Amitabh Bachchan, The Beatles, Richard Branson, Julia Child, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Lady Gaga, Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Nelson Mandela, Lionel Messi, Elon Musk, Colonel Sanders, Dr. Seuss, Steven Spielberg, Ratan Tata, Vera Wang, Serena Williams, and Oprah Winfrey.
Fresh Ink
The National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland commissioned 10 writers to record their experiences of 2020 in their chosen forms, which will be added to the Library archives.
The pieces encapsulate the personal and the political, the private and the public, the sadness and isolation of lockdown, but also those new and different moments of contact and empathy. The result is a series of brilliant evocations of living through a time of unique change, and we believe these pieces illuminate, challenge, comfort, and intrigue.
Poet, writer and creative practitioner Nadine Aisha Jassat led the Fresh Ink initiative. She writes about Sonali's commission:
'Sonali Misra's "Dear Sonali" had me hooked from the first line to the last. She writes about her experience as a debut author in 2020, something that felt so important to capture in the archive, but also about her year as a daughter, as someone newly in love, as someone whose heart finds joy in two countries but who is in lockdown in one. It was a reminder of how good writing — written with heart, and story — can pull readers in and make the shared emotion of the author resonate with that of the reader. It is not often that work makes me cry, and yet Sonali's did, as she writes back to herself of early 2020, from where she sits now.'
Sonali's essay: 'Dear Sonali'
So Hormonal
Monstrous Regiment Publishing
So Hormonal is a collection of personal essays detailing the various roles that hormones play in our daily lives. With over 30 authors from almost a dozen countries, this anthology strikes a balance between raw truths, tough challenges, and improbable elation.
Prefaced with a foreword from Karen Havelin, author of Please Read This Leaflet Carefully, the essays that follow discuss topics such as PCOS, periods, steroid use, chronic illness, transitioning, men’s fertility, and menopause with refreshing openness and honesty.
Sonali's essay: ‘Ten Years in the Making’
Very Much Alive: Stories of Resilience
The Selkie Publications CIC
The pre-pandemic stories you will find in this book do not contain utopias or cast a light back on a better or happier time. They don’t tell stories of a world where nothing bad happens. As you’ll read, it is the small acts of resiliency that give humans the courage to face their fears, and ultimately, to change.
In these pages you will find artwork, poetry and stories by Canadian artists and our editors. We are part of this journey together, and we are still here—and very much alive.
Sonali's story: ‘Sway with Me’
From Arthur's Seat 3
Edited by Sonali Misra
From Arthur’s Seat 3 is a celebration of a new community. The poems and stories were commissioned, written and edited entirely by the 2017–2018 MSc in Creative Writing students of the University of Edinburgh. Even the beautiful cover is student work. As a cohort, the contributors in this volume originate from all over the world – Scotland, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, India, Cuba, the USA, Canada, and China – and the voices you will find here are different, urgent, extraordinary. And they’re calling you to be a part of their community too.
Sonali's story: ‘A Crack in the Wall’
Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature
'In October 2022, I went to Gothenburg, Sweden, on a four-week writing residency to complete my political adventure fantasy novel, Aasra. I remember the moment I found I’d been chosen for the residency – I was on the number 23 bus, returning from my weekly counselling session, having cried my eyes out about something particularly upsetting that day. As the bus turned towards The Mound, my inbox pinged, and my eyes scrolled the words expecting another rejection. When ‘congratulations’ showed up instead, I immediately called my family with the good news.
I apply for dozens of opportunities every year: part-time work, writing residencies, writing awards, publication opportunities, mentorships – the list goes on. As someone who’s been on the other side of the judging process, I know there is no exact science to it. It boils down to the person’s tastes and opinions, biases (unconscious or not), and even whether their egg yolk split that day or their WiFi acted up during a Zoom meeting...'
Scottish BPOC Writers Network
'I nodded, though both my head and heart disagreed.
Sitting in my professor’s office in Edinburgh, I watched her face as the short story I’d submitted for review stared at me from the computer screen behind her. My posture might’ve straightened and shrunk with my professor’s words had I not forced it erect. Smile – she must not think that your resting bitchface is your taking-criticism face. She was being kind. Her statements ended with invisible question marks, and she checked in with me to ensure I understood her meaning. I told her that I did, though I must admit a stream of my focus was still preoccupied with page three...'
The Selkie Publications CIC
'You know you’ve ‘made it’ when you receive your first hate mail.
I got mine earlier this year on my Selkie ID. Let’s ignore the verbal abuse and look at the points that Anonymous was trying to make in it. Anonymous informed me that The Selkie was being ‘racist, homophobic, discriminatory, biased, ableist … and bigot[ed]’ for promoting the work of underrepresented creatives. That by ‘labelling’ ourselves, we were demeaning the precise cause we were fighting for. That by exclusively publishing diverse voices, we were ignoring the ‘merit’ of the work we published...'
Author and Publisher Interviews
The Selkie Publications CIC
Sonali Misra’s interviews of:
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David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK
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Shantanu Duttagupta, Publisher of Scholastic India
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Nathaniel Kunitsky, Publisher of Knight Errant Press
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Claire Askew, Poet and Author
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Sukanya Venkatraghavan and Kiran Manral, Authors
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Nikita Deshpande, Author