The Cartographer of Your City
2023A retired surveyor sets out to map every lane of his neighbourhood before it is rebuilt, and finds the people the maps left out.
Novel
Novels · Stories · Essays
Stories from old lanes and full houses.
I'm Meera Saxena. I write novels and essays about families, neighbourhoods and the things people leave unsaid. My new novel, Neem Tree Summers, is out now.
3 booksAnd one on the wayReadingsBookshops, clubs & festivalsNewsletterOne letter a month
New novel
Neem Tree Summers
Three cousins, one crumbling house and a grandmother who has decided it is time everyone told the truth.
A warm, funny and sometimes sad novel about the summer a family finally talks. Book-club notes and reading questions are free to download on request.
Buy link 1 goes hereBuy link 2 goes hereYour local bookshop
Books
Also by Meera
Salt and Kewra
2021Twelve stories of kitchens, weddings and quiet arguments, set between Your City and a hill town nobody names.
Short stories
Paper Kites Over the River
2027Short essays on walking, letter-writing and growing up beside a river. Sign up to the newsletter to hear first.
Essays · coming soonAbout
Hello, reader.
I grew up in a joint family in the old town, where somebody was always telling a story and somebody else was always correcting it.
I worked as a newspaper sub-editor for ten years before my first book. Now I write full time, teach the odd workshop and visit as many book clubs as will have me.
Read my story
From the journal
Notes from my desk
On writing letters nobody asked for
Why I still write a paper letter to each character before I start a book, and what they write back.
A morning walk through Your City
Notes from a walk at six in the morning, when the lanes belong to milkmen, sweepers and one very loud parrot.
The fourth draft is the honest one
How a book changes between the first draft and the one I finally send to my editor.
Newsletter
Letters, not spam.
Once a month I send a short letter: what I'm writing, what I'm reading, and where I'll be next.
- First news of new books and covers
- Reading and event dates near you
- A short story or essay now and then
Readings & book clubs
Invite me to your book club or festival.
In person in and around Your City, or online anywhere. Tell me the date and the book.