Eshani Surya (She/Her)

Kenzi Crash

Eshani Surya is a chronically ill South Asian writer living in Philadelphia. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona and is a 2025 Publisher's Weekly Writer to Watch, a 2023 Finalist for the A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature, a 2022 Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop scholarship recipient, and a 2021 Mae Fellowship recipient. Her debut novel is "Ravishing," which shines a light on the dark enticements of the beauty industry and how it reduces us to the worst parts of ourselves in search of the right kind of beautiful.

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Communities: LGBTQ+, Asian American, Neurodivergent, Person with a Disability

Stories of Survival

What does it mean to break free from trauma, expectation, or identities that have been imposed upon us? In this session, authors T Kira Madden, Naeem Murr and Eshani Surya will explore the courage it takes to reclaim agency and rebuild the self ... and how liberation may come from quiet act of telling one’s own story.

Student Union Kachina (Seats 100)  
Sat, Mar 14, 11:30 am - 12:25 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: UA Campus Store Book Sales (Mall) (following presentation)  

Panelists: T Kira Madden, Naeem Murr, Eshani Surya
Moderator: Natalia Gabrielsen
Sponsors: Session made possible courtesy of Bourn Companies, Mark and Karin Wiest

Control and the Speculative Imagination

What happens when technology, society or mysterious forces manipulate our lives? What does it take to reclaim things? This panel brings together three authors who explore speculative and futuristic worlds where the stakes are high, and the choices are both personal and profound.

Student Union Sabino (Seats 87)  
Sun, Mar 15, 11:30 am - 12:25 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: UA Campus Store Book Sales (Mall) (following presentation)  

Panelists: Nikki Erlick, Yiming Ma, Eshani Surya
Moderator: Bond Lammey
Sponsors: Session made possible courtesy of Joan and Adrian Van Loozenoord, Susan Eck

Book:

Ravishing

Fiction / Literature
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
November 2025
ISBN 9780802164681
320 pages
Buy now