What happens after we survive and experience something life-changing and traumatic? Award-winning young adult author Veera Hiranandani’s new historical fiction Amil and The After addresses this question. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, Veera also asked herself how can we heal as individuals and as a society? Written in part through the drawings of young Amil, the story follows the aftermath of the partition of India and Pakistan. It’s a journey like the one members of her family had made. ‘We as humans keep finding ways to divide ourselves and attack marginalized communities.’ Although her books are called ‘young adult’, adults need to read them. Veera’s novels gives us an understanding of a child’s perspective. And a boy’s longing for stability and hope during a tumultuous time.
Amil and The After is a follow-up to Veera’s Newberry Honor winning, The Night Diary. The Night Diary also received the 2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award, among several other honors and state reading list awards. Veera earned her MFA in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, Veera is now a faculty member with the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.