Author Vandana Nair celebrates the release of her just published novel, The Wedding at BookTree on Saturday June 27th 5pm. Also on hand will be Renee Simms acclaimed author (Meet Behind Mars) and Associate Professor of African American Studies at University of Puget Sound. Nair and Simms will have a short reading, discussion and Q and A centered on The Wedding.

Join us.

Nair's The Wedding book set in 2020 India follows Dr. Ahilya Kapoor, who dreads a trip to her hometown of Lucknow to attend her young cousin's lavish wedding. Against the backdrop of a chaotic multi-day ceremony, her independence is challenged by her very traditional family, and despite her resistance, she finds love, just as a mysterious illness sweeps through the gathering. The Wedding explores the complexities of tradition versus modernity and the universal search for love and belonging amidst turmoil and change.

Bios:

Vandana Nair grew up in India, believing that relationships need to be nurtured from their roots. Living away from her birth country has given her the essential distance to mine stories, essays and other forms from her cultural home and heritage. Learning across geographies have enabled her to complete her undergraduate degree in India, work as a freelance writer, and attain an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop in Fiction. Nair's book reviews of translated texts from India have appeared in Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation, The University of Iowa. Nair’s novel, The Wedding, is a summer release from Santa Fe Writer’s Project in June 2026. Find her at nairvandana.com

Renee Simms' writing has appeared in Salon, Guernica, Oxford American, The Southwest Review, The Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. Her debut story collection Meet Behind Mars (Wayne State University Press) was a Foreword Indies finalist for Short Stories, featured on NPR and the National Book Critics Circle blog, and was listed by The Root as one of 28 brilliant books by Black authors in 2018. She has a memoir and a novel forthcoming with Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Renee teaches in the low residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University and is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at University of Puget Sound.