Sunshine and Spice
by Aurora Palit
Interview by Ellen Birkett Morris
During her time pursuing a master’s degree in English literature, Aurora was drawn to discourses on diaspora and identity, racism, and multi-generational immigrant experiences. She decided to explore those issues through romance, crafting Sunshine and Spice, a novel that explores the relationship between two BIPOC characters with very different upbringings. In the book, struggling brand consultant Naomi lands a career-saving job she’s culturally unequipped to handle, she makes a deal with Dev, the grumpy, anti-marriage son of her traditional, Bengali client: she’ll help him thwart his mother’s matchmaking efforts if he helps her meet the matriarch’s exacting standards. As the line between reality and rumor blurs as Naomi is pulled deeper into lies that could end her career and break her heart. Palit discusses the creation of Sunshine and Spice here:
AUTHORLINK: Tell me about your apprenticeship as a creative writer. Did you have a mentor who offered advice that you can share with us?
 PALIT: Although I’ve always felt like I had stories inside waiting to be shared, my creative writing journey started only a few years ago. If I’m going to be candid, I started writing out of boredom; I was a new mom who found herself at home most evenings with nothing to do after putting her children to bed. As such, my first novel was a bit of a disaster: I didn’t know anything about plotting, story structure, or character motivation.
Everything changed for me, however, when my manuscript (a much stronger second novel – I eventually got my act together and read some craft books) was accepted for the 2021 Pitch Wars program. I was mentored by Nikki Payne and Regina Black, and I am so grateful to have had such an opportunity to work with these formidable writers. They taught me so much about writing, publishing, self-preservation, and confidence. One piece of advice that has really stuck with me was on creating and fleshing out characters. This process can – and should – be a meaningful and thoughtful process that goes deeper than their physical attributes, everyday behaviors, and emotional wounds: what was their first kiss like? What were they like at school? What car do they drive and why? What’s in their refrigerator right now? These details may not make it onto the page but knowing them helps create distinctive voices and inform their actions in your novel in a real and believable way.
AUTHORLINK: Where did the idea for Sunshine and Spice come from?
PALIT: I grew up in a very homogenous small town and always felt the strain of living between cultures and wondering where I fit in. And as I got to know other first generation, South Asian people throughout my life, I found it very interesting how different our individual upbringings could be even though, solely from the fact that our parents were immigrants, we could bond in this unique diasporic space. Through Naomi (who has been cut off from her ethnic culture) and Dev (whose family adheres to some very strict traditions), I wanted to explore this aspect of how culture and belonging take shape far away from “home” and how one decides which rules they will follow and which ones should be broken.
AUTHORLINK: What writers (romance or otherwise) influence you?
PALIT: There are so many writers that influence me. Ever since I started writing, I feel like there is so much to learn whenever I read another author’s work. I admire how Salman Rushdie’s writing feels like poetry masquerading as prose, how Jennifer Crusie’s humor bounces off the page, the way Sarah MacLean weaves female empowerment alongside the most poignant romance arcs, and the honesty in Jhumpa Lahiri’s depiction of humanity. I am also in awe of Sherry Thomas’s writing and often comfort read her romance novels.
AUTHORLINK: This book follows in the tradition of romance books staples such as a pretend dating scenario and a slow burn attraction. How did you seek to depart from that tradition?
 PALIT: I didn’t intentionally seek to depart from that tradition, I’m a romance reader, and I love this tradition! But I think as a BIPOC writer, the departure from that tradition happened organically. The main characters, Naomi and Dev, are fake dating but not in front of everyone because Naomi wouldn’t be considered a suitable partner in the eyes of Dev’s traditional Bengali family. Almost the entire cast of Sunshine and Spice are members of the Desi community, and that level of diversity is still quite new to the romance genre. Finally, there are a lot of very Bollywood-esque moments in this novel, which I wrote to celebrate Desi culture and as a nod to a genre that shaped my earliest understandings of romance, relationships, and love.
 AUTHORLINK: While pursuing a master’s degree in English literature alumni from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, you were drawn to explore issues like diaspora and identity, racism, and multi-generational immigrant experiences. Tell me about your choice to explore these through the genre of romance.
PALIT: As a genre, I think romance is highly underrated because of its formulaic nature and because it was traditionally marketed, primarily, towards women. But now, romance provides a safe, inclusive space that celebrates sex positivity, feminism, diversity and underrepresented groups, and love in all its forms. Positioning complicated topics like diaspora and identity, racism, and multi-generational immigrant experiences next to these very wonderful things was intentional on my part: I think the romance genre offers people a lot of comfort, and my hope is that Naomi and Dev’s romance arc inspires the idea that everyone – regardless of where you are in your life or how good you feel about yourself – deserves to love and be loved.
AUTHORLINK: What was your greatest challenge in developing Sunshine and Spice?
PALIT: Through the lens of its main characters, Naomi and Dev, Sunshine and Spice looks inward at South Asians living abroad, specifically, the Bengali community. There were so many threads to pull at and I wanted to explore a variety of perspectives – some are celebratory and spark joy, while others are more complex, critical, and triggering. I wanted to do them all justice and this was a lot to navigate next to the romance arc, which is the most important part of a romance novel.
AUTHORLINK: What advice do you offer to apprentice writers about either craft, or staying encouraged in the face of rejection, or both?
PALIT: Writing can be such a lonely labor of love, which is why I think it is so important to seek out other writers and writing communities so you can lean on each other and trauma bond! Writers may be their own worst critics but they are, in my experience, generally the best cheerleaders for each other. So don’t be afraid to reach out to other writers on social media (Instagram has a very active romance writing community) or via Google Groups to find your people!
And if this feels daunting, I also recommend reading craft books because along with dispensing some very useful writing advice, the authors are often very vulnerable about how difficult can be. For example, Writing Naked by Jennifer Probst is part craft book, part therapy for writers.
AUTHORLINK: What do you hope readers take away from reading Sunshine and Spice?
PALIT: I really want readers to walk away with a sense of hope after reading Sunshine and Spice. I believe everyone feels a sense of imposter syndrome at different points in their lives and this novel is a love letter to anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit the mold of who or what they’re supposed to be. Growing up between cultures – or between what our parents want for us versus what we feel is right– is hard but I hope Naomi and Dev’s journeys empower people to feel confident and proud of the life they carve out for themselves, especially if it goes against the grain.
 AUTHORLINK: Discuss what you are working on now.
PALIT: I am in the final round of revising my second novel, Honey and Heat, a standalone contemporary romcom in the same universe as Sunshine and Spice. I don’t want to give too much away but readers of my first novel can probably guess the main characters in this new book, which features tropes such as rivals to lovers, workplace proximity, and he falls first (and hard!).
A first generation Bengali-Canadian, Aurora Palit grew up in rural Alberta, where she was always the only South Asian student in her class. Her love of reading began at age four but it wasn’t until high school—when she wandered into the romance section of a bookstore—that she realized happily-ever-afters are her jam.
Flash forward (an undisclosed number of years) and Aurora is now writing those stories with her own unique brand of humor, perspective, and belief that people of color deserve love stories too.
