Join us and Green Apple Books to celebrate the paperback release of Shruti Swamy's The Archer!

Entry is free, but please RSVP here . Or purchase a ticket that includes entry and a signed copy of The Archer , or the "Swamy Bundle" of The Archer and A House is a Body.

Doors open at 6:30pm

Reading 7:00pm

After-party with Gujarati bites, libations, and dancing to follow!

As a special treat, the first 50 attendees will receive a special poster of The Archer's paperback cover! First come, first serve.

About The Archer

“[Swamy’s] prose is so assured . . . The Archer dazzles as it asks: How does a woman remain an artist?” —The New York Times Book Review

Recommended by: BuzzFeed * The Millions * Book Riot * Literary Hub * Bookmarks * Ms.* Bookish * Goodreads * Library Journal * San Francisco Chronicle

FINALIST FOR THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

In this original and transfixing novel, Vidya comes of age in 1960s- and 1970s-era Bombay, her childhood marked by the shattering absence and then the bewildering reappearance of her mother and baby brother at the family home. Restless, observant, and longing for connection with her brilliant and increasingly troubled mother, Vidya one day peeks into a classroom where girls are learning kathak, a dazzling, centuries-old dance form that requires the utmost discipline and focus. Her pursuit of artistic transcendence and escape through kathak soon becomes the organizing principle of her life, even as she leaves home for college and falls in complicated love with her best friend. As the uncertain future looms, she must confront the tensions between romance, art, and the legacy of her own imperfect mother.

Lyrical and deeply sensual, Shruti Swamy’s The Archer is a bold portrait of a singular woman striving toward life as an artist while navigating desire, duty, and the limits of the body. It is also an electrifying and utterly immersive story about the transformative power of art, and the possibilities that love can open when we’re ready.

About Shruti Swamy

Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection, A House Is a Body, which was a finalist for the Pen/Robert Bingham Prize, the LA Times Book Prize for First Fiction, and long-listed for the Story Prize. Her work has been published by the Paris Review, McSweeney’s, and anthologized in the O. Henry Prize Stories. She lives in San Francisco.

Health, Safety, and Accessibility

• The entrance to this event is at street-level with no stairs leading into or out of the venue.

• There is only street parking available outside of the venue. Public transportation is encouraged.

All attendees must be fully vaccinated and show proof of vaccination at the event. Masks are required. Please keep your mask on between sips and bites of refreshments.