Best selling author Anubha Mehta with her work.

Anubha Mehta receives The Nalanda Award for The Best Novelist: Indo-Canadian Contemporary Writing 2023

Best selling author of ‘Peacock in the Snow’ (Inanna Publications Toronto 2018; Amaryllis Publications India 2019) Anubha Mehta, is awarded the 2023 Best Novelist award for Indo-Canadian writing representing the best in current diasporic literature in Canada.
With a doctorate in Political Science and over two decades of Canadian public sector experience, Anubha has been awarded for her leadership work with diverse Canadian communities. Anubha works as a Senior Policy Advisor for the Provincial Government of Ontario and lives with her family in Toronto.
Anubha received this award by the Consul General of India to Canada, Mr. Siddhartha Nath, in late August in Brampton.
The award ceremony was attended by acclaimed artists, poets, the jurors. This marked the beginning of a three-day new South-Asian Literary festival organized by Mr. Tahir Gora, a Canadian broadcaster, and founder of Tag TV.
Anubha’s writing has been awarded for its current perspective on age-old diasporic issues in Canada.
Amongst many reviews here are some that describe Anubha’s writing style and the multiplicity of issues that she addresses in a narrative that is engaging and thought-provoking :
“Anubha’s work is cinematic storytelling. As a filmmaker I am instinctively drawn to the scenic imagery of her work that is evoked in both India and North America, like glimpses from a moving train, like colours on an artist’s canvas – a range and complexity of symbols and characters,” wrote Mike Pandey, Green Oscar winner, filmmaker, Riverbank Studios.
Anubha’s work “…is reminiscent of writers like Bharati Mukherjee, Madeleine Thien, Saleema Nawaz, and Kim Thuy. Anubha’s writing says much about contemporary Canadian society,” opines Prof. David Siegel, Political Science, Brock University, St Catharines, Canada.
Anubha’s writing “..mixes the conversations, habits and conventions of parallel lives in India and North America. Anubha explores this deftly through her own narrative as well as that of contemporary society in both places with unabashed honesty. The journey of a life of privilege in the east changes entirely in the West…” wrote Suparna Singh, Ex-CEO, NDTV Group.
“A book like Peacock in the Snow comes rarely and when it does, it is not to be missed. With its symbolic haunting elements and beautiful landscapes, it mirrors many of the world classics, but it also has suspense and adventure woven into a racy plot written for our present times. I found many things close to my heart….” says Asha Bidani, retired teacher, Toronto District School Board, Canada.
“With Peacock in the Snow I lost sleep. Every night for 4 nights I read until well after midnight knowing full well my alarm was set to 5am for work. I was eager to find out how Maya’s journey ends. I thoroughly enjoyed this story especially my aha moment when I learned what Peacock in the Snow meant, where it derived from and the connection between India and Canada. Brilliant!!! The ending was the icing on the cake.” viewed Cathy Thrun, reader, Toronto, Canada.
“Like the personality of the author, the peacock as a woman, dances, with abandon, without inhibition or restriction. She dances on a land that is not her’s, she dances with feet which are frozen in the snow, but she dances. And in that dance, she radiates with a life that has lived and reflected all the moods and hues of the peacock’s colours. When she stops dancing, this snowy white land is no longer alien, no longer colourless. It too radiates with her adapted colours, and it too echoes’ some of her tales, making them its own. This is the hope of this vision. Anubha’s writing catches your imagination at a level beyond cultural and geographic boundaries. It is a tale that I am sure most of us get surprised with, and love.” Jolly Rohatagi, Artist-Painter, Gender Advocate.
Anubha also presented on a panel discussing various challenges including the threat of AI, the role of social media, politics of racism, the demise of reading, the impact of globally transferable intelligence.