Oh! I meant to say, I’ve managed to actually put a writer newsletter together, for the first time in I don’t know how long, or rather, Stephanie Bailey and Emmanuel Henderson have managed to pin me down long enough to put one together for me.
I want to highlight one thing for locals who are up on Sunday mornings at 7:40 a.m. — I’ll be on TV making Sri Lankan food! See below.
We’re going to try to do the newsletter monthly from now on, which should make it a little easier for people to keep track of my writing, esp. since FB algorithms are so wacky about what they actually show people. The actual newsletter is full of links, which don’t translate well here, I’m afraid, and I’m not going to take the time to go cut and paste them all in right now, since that’s time I should spend WRITING. 
You can subscribe here (and then I think view the archive of newsletters, with handy links?): https://tinyletter.com/mohanraj
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Greetings Gentlebeings!
First, thanks so much for opening this e-mail and supporting me and my writing! 2020 has been a very complex year for everyone, I think; I hope you and your families are in good health. We’re turning now to the uncertain (but hopeful) second half.
In March, where we left off, my new Sri Lankan cookbook A Feast of Serendib officially launched, and became an Amazon bestseller! Unfortunately, the spread of COVID19 in the U.S. meant a lot of the exciting next steps were taken out of my hands. It wasn’t a good time for a new book release, and I had to make the decision to cancel my summer book tour. I’m so sorry we weren’t able to visit all those cities this year; hopefully, we’ll be able to try that again next year.
Thankfully, the cookbook is still selling (slowly) on Amazon and on my site, and the reviews have been glowing (a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly!) — but any help spreading the word would be much appreciated! Maybe your local library would like to order a copy?
TRAVEL AND PUBLICATIONS:
My last trip was to California, where I was an Honored Guest at FogCon2020. Since then, I’ve mostly been hunkered down, writing. I’ve published a few things you might enjoy:
• A Feast of Serendib: 10 Things You Might Not Know about Sri Lankan Food for Jaggery Magazine
• co-authored the mosaic novel Three Kings for George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards superhero series
• “Paper Star” (a new Jump Space story) published in the Decameron Project
• “Three Fights” (a little pandemic essay) published in How We Are
NEW STORE!
I’ve also been busy with some new projects for my Serendib Kitchen business, making fabric masks and trying out new treat recipes. We have a new online shop where you can check out the fun variety of mask fabrics available, order books, curry powder, and more. You can visit the new shop here: https://serendib-kitchen.myshopify.com/. We’ve also started a quarterly treat box subscription for our Patreon supporters at the $10+ tier, and I’m having fun packing those boxes with the latest homemade goodies from my kitchen. You can sign up for the quarterly treat boxes or for our Serendib Recipe Club here: https://www.patreon.com/mohanraj
VIDEOS! SO MANY VIDEOS!
Another exciting project we’ve been working on this summer is the Serendib Kitchen YouTube channel. When I ran the Kickstarter campaign in 2019 to fund Feast, I promised there would be cooking videos. We’ve now released eight cooking videos on our channel, with plans to continue releasing them weekly throughout the summer. Check out me and Jedediah cooking curried beets, or me and Kavi making mango fluff!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist…
And we’re now up to six (6) interviews for an SLF project/the SLF’s Portolan Project (free online creative writing instruction). I interviewed master SF/F writers like Paolo Bacigalupi, Kate Elliott, George R.R. Martin, Nalo Hopkinson, along with exciting emerging writers. Find those on YouTube here, or on the SLF site.
RECENT:
Spoke on WorldCon panel about being a “Token Girl”
In July I was honored to be listed in NewCity’s LIT 50 of 2020. You can read the blurbs (and see a rare photo of Serious Mary Anne) here: Lit 50: Who Really Books In Chicago 2020
Deep breath.
That’s the recap! I know, it’s a lot — we’re going to try to get the newsletter out a little more frequently going forward, so it can be shorter!
COMING SOON:
In the next months, more cooking videos and interviews are coming, and there are two podcasts I’m recording right now, that I hope to launch soon:
• with Benjamin Rosenbaum (“Mohanraj and Rosenbaum Are Humans,” science fiction, writing, and culture)
• with Kel Bachus (not yet titled, gender and domestic business and gaming).
We’re also planning to release a print and updated ebook edition of Vegan Serendib in the fall and add in a new book, Gluten-Free Serendib, hopefully in time for holiday orders.
TV APPEARANCE!
I’m thrilled to be appearing live on WGN’s Sunday Brunch segment later this month! Tune in to WGN’s Weekend Morning News on Sunday, August 16, at 7:40-ish a.m. (Central) for a live demonstration of a fresh and tasty kale sambol recipe.
ONLINE EVENTS:
Finally, if we can’t meet in person, maybe we can meet online. I recently hosted a Zoom demo of my kale sambol recipe with the Skokie Public Library; the first of several exciting virtual events in the works. Plus, I’ll be hosting Fiberworld’s live virtual classes this year! More info here!
Whew, I think that’s it! I have to get back to my teaching prep now, for our entirely online fall semester, but I’ll talk to you again soon!
P.S. Keep up with all of my relevant news & events on my blog here!
-Mary Anne