New Jersey writer Meghana Karanjkar will release her debut short story collection, First Generation, on October 27, 2026, from Atmosphere Press.
Set across India and America, the collection brings together twelve stories about people negotiating the complicated terrain of identity, belonging, family, love and displacement. At the heart of the collection is the experience of being an outsider—and the often difficult process of finding, or creating, a place to belong.
In one story, a first-generation immigrant learns and unlearns behaviors as she adapts to life in a new country. In another, a young man facing a life-altering illness must come to terms with the changing nature of his romantic relationship. Elsewhere, three young women traveling through rural Pennsylvania late on a hot summer night find themselves in a threatening situation that forces them to act quickly.
Although the characters and circumstances vary, the stories share a central question: What do we hold on to—and what must we relinquish—as we become the people we are going to be?
Karanjkar, a first-generation immigrant from India who now lives in New Jersey, draws upon the emotional landscape of navigating cultures and ideas of home. Her stories examine not only immigration but other forms of outsiderness and the universal desire for acceptance, connection and stability.
"Writer Meghana Karanjkar understands the complexities of the human heart," says award-winning short story writer Aimee LaBrie, author of Rage and Other Cages. "In these twelve illuminating stories, set across India and America, she vividly renders setting while also exploring the bonds of love, family, and duty, and the ways caste, culture, and tradition shape our most intimate choices."
Karanjkar is a short story writer and nonfiction essayist whose work has appeared in The Adelaide Journal, The Blue Mountain Review, In Parentheses, Prosetrics, and Appetite, an anthology published by Penguin India. Her poetry has also appeared in Look Away Now through Linen Press in the UK.
First Generation will be published by Atmosphere Press on October 27, 2026, and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
BOOK INFORMATION
First Generation By Meghana Karanjkar
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Formats: Paperback and Ebook
Paperback ISBN: 979-8-90174-551-9
Ebook ISBN: 979-8-90174-573-1
Meghana Karanjkar is a creative writer who loves writing fiction, short stories, essays as well as flash fiction and nonfiction. Originally from India and now living in New Jersey her work is often informed by her immigrant experience and what it means to be in-between two worlds. Her characters face questions of identity and learn to negotiate meaning of self, family and belonging in multi-cultural settings.
Meghana's work has been published in the Blue Mountain Review, The Adelaide Journal, In Parentheses, Prosetrics, Appetite - An Anthology, Look Away Now by Linen Press, UK.
She teaches creative writing workshops at the local library and other community spaces encouraging people to come together to write without pressure.
When she is not writing, Meghana does coaching, reading, spending time in nature, being with family, hiking with her dog and embroidering.
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