Virtual Craft Chat with Paul Jaskunas in Conversation with Leeya Mehta

The Inner Loop and The Writer’s Center present a FREE virtual chat about the craft of fiction! We’re joined by Paul Jaskunas to discuss his new novel, The Atlas of Remedies. Paul is in conversation with author Leeya Mehta.

The Atlas of Remedies is The Inner Loop’s Author’s Corner spotlight. The Inner Loop cultivates and promotes the distinctive literary culture of Washington DC. Author’s Corner supports local authors’ independently published books by spotlighting them in community programming and collaborations.

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Paul Jaskunas is the author of two novels: The Atlas of Remedies (Stillhouse Press) and Hidden (Free Press), which won the Friends of American Writers Award. A chapbook of his poems, Mother Ship, will be released by Finishing Line Press in Fall 2024. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, America, Tab, Little Patuxent Review, and the Vilnius Review, among many other publications. Since 2008, he has taught literature and writing at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where he edits Full Bleed, an annual journal devoted to the intersection of the visual and literary arts. jaskunas.com.

Leeya Mehta is a prize-winning poet and fiction writer. Until recently, Leeya wrote a column on the literary life, The Company We Keep. She is the author of a chapbook The Towers of Silence and the collection A Story of the World Before the Fence. Her work has appeared in The Atlanta Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, District Lit, Gargoyle, Poetry London, Vinyl Poetry, and Why Nicht? amongst others. Her work has been widely anthologized, including in the Penguin Book of Modern Indian Poets. Leeya grew up in Bombay and was a Radhakrishnan Scholar at Oxford University. She began her career as a tech entrepreneur – founding India’s first full legal services start-up. Leeya has called Washington DC her home since graduate school at Georgetown, from where she has a Masters in Public Policy. After over a decade working in international development at the World Bank, she is currently the Director of the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center. Find out more about her here: cheusecenter.gmu.edu/about/our-staff/overview

About the Book
Frightened that the grippe will steal away the life of her beloved cousin Marija, the only family she has in New York, Karolina steps out into the cold and unforgiving city streets to buy chamomile flowers, a tried-and-true remedy from her old life in Lithuania. Meanwhile, her children struggle to navigate through Russian-occupied Europe to reach the port of Hamburg and sail to America for a desperately sought reunion.

Set in 1901, Paul Jaskunas’s multi-generational immigrant saga in-miniature nimbly blends historical realism with a dreamlike aesthetic to create a unique and arresting portrait of one family fervently hoping that America will make good on its promise.