KUOW, Seattle Public Library winter season finale: Sonora Jha's 'Intemperance'
The KUOW Book Club is concluding our series of live author talks in partnership with the Seattle Public Library with the great Seattle author Sonora Jha.
We'll be reading her latest novel, "Intemperance."
Jha will join us for a live interview at the Seattle Central Library on May 21. Register for free here.
The event will be the grand finale of this winter's Book Talks season at the library, but it won't be your last chance to see some of the best authors in the Pacific Northwest in conversation with the KUOW Book Club. Stayed tuned for details about a summer series that's in the works.
RELATED: Cozy reader winter: Join KUOW Book Club, Seattle Public Library for live author talks
Jha first rocked my world with her novel "The Laughter," which I selected for the Book Club back in November 2024. When we spoke then, she talked about how at the end of that book, her lead female character "drops the veneer" and is no longer willing to participate in the "part that she's asked to play." And perhaps Jha, in her latest novel, is diving back into the idea of a woman fed up with society's expectations of her.
"Intemperance" follows a 55-year-old woman who decides to hold a swayamvar, drawn from an ancient Indian custom in which suitors compete in a feat of wills and strength to win a beautiful princess’s hand in marriage. To her surprise, a collection of suitors do show up to compete for her love, setting off a scandal of sorts while she grapples with what it means to her in the later chapter in life. How absolutely delightful.
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This sounds right for anyone who enjoyed "All Fours" by Miranda July and Jesse Q. Sutanto's new romp, "Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Black," which I just finished and loved.
Read along with the KUOW Book Club by signing up for our newsletter, and join Jha and me at the Seattle Central Library on May 21 at 6:30 p.m.
If you can't make it, don't worry: I'll share the interview and my thoughts on May 25. (We'll also share the interview on the "Meet Me Here" podcast feed.)
RELATED: Queering classics out of cliché with Seattle author Molly Olguín
"Intemperance" was a 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize finalist, praised for centering a middle-aged, disabled woman of color.
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"It is unapologetic, it is fierce, it dares the world to a confrontation over who is deserving of every affection," the Aspen Words Literary Prize jury wrote. "This is a fable about questions we must ask concerning the love lives of those on the margins — who gets to create expectations for them, who gets to make the rules for if and how they should be loved, who decides when those rules must be rewritten or simply trashed? Whatever answers the reader might conjure will only make room for more questions and therein lies the brilliance of this novel."
I'm sure I will have plenty of questions for Jha — I always do — and I hope you do, too.
Read along with us this month, and come out to the Seattle Central Library on May 21 for a chance to ask Jha about what's on your mind at the conclusion of this novel and this season of reading.
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Katie Campbell
Online Editor/Reporter
Katie joined KUOW's online team as an editor and reporter in 2024, after serving three years as senior producer of the local Morning Edition program. She has covered a variety of local topics, including the Seattle City Council, elections, and breaking news. She also brings readers some levity with a weekly news quiz.
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