Dear Author, You Are Wrong

Varsha Varghese’s Dear Author, You Are Wrong is another book I had the chance to read as a manuscript a few years ago when it was submitted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2023. It won the award—and deservedly so! It is a deceptively simple read, one that addresses a range of social issues with a light touch.

When a book eleven-year-old Avisha reads makes her upset and angry, she hunts out the author’s email and writes to her. The author writes back, and this sets Avisha off on an unexpected investigation, where she is forced to look more closely at the world around her. As Avisha turns detective, she realises there are more questions than answers. Uncomfortable questions, at that. Why must delivery people use a separate lift in her apartment complex? Do families have clear gender roles? Is a gender role wrong in itself?

With Avisha, we discover how easily inconvenient questions are dusted under the carpet. Issues of caste and gender are sugarcoated or disguised to appear harmless, and everyone suffers for it.

Alongside all the heavy themes, however, is humour. Avisha’s ridiculous disguises and half-baked plans make us chuckle, and this allows the author to handle big themes with a remarkably light touch. I like that there are no neat answers, even though the loose ends in the story are all tied up. We are left satisfied, yet pensive, making Dear Author, You Are Wrong a memorable read.