Episode 253 with Akshaj Mehta, Author of Five Books, Including The Butterfly Effect, Intrepid and Curious Journalist, and Advocate for Reading and Writing Diverse Stories

Notes and Links to Akshaj Mehta’s Work      For Episode 253, Pete welcomes Akshaj Mehta, and the two discuss, among other topics, his early experiences with bilingualism, formative and transformative writers and writing, beautiful trips with his mother to the library, his interest in representation of multidimensional and diverse characters and stories, a paradigm shift in reading Steph Cha, his evolving writing and salient themes and issues in his work like multiculturalism, subtlety, and unbiased writing.      Akshaj Mehta, who has been writing since he was four years old, is currently studying political science at UCLA as a second year student. Akshaj is an author with five published books, the most recent titled The Butterfly Effect, which was created in collaboration with the non-profit KidsFirst Roseville. He has also written for the N Magazine and Sacramento School Beat.   Buy The Butterfly Effect   Akshaj’s 2019 Article for The Sacramento Bee: “The ‘transforming’ power of a name: Learning to embrace the unique name I was given   Akshaj’s Story, “The Tragedy of Antonio Solaris” At about 1:40: Akshaj talks about college life as an incoming sophomore  At about 2:20, Akshaj At about 4:10, Akshaj talks about sparks for his love of reading-shout out to mothers who bring kids to libraries At about 6:20, Akshaj expands on the plot of his first novel, Super Mouse At about 7:10, Akshaj responds to Pete’s questions about an important writing assignment about the power of his name At about 9:20, Akshaj reads the opening of the article mentioned above At about 10:25, Akshaj responds to Pete asking about the experience of writing about his name and if the writing of it was “cathartic” At about 11:35, Akshaj reflects on how he looks back at the topics of the article and how he sees his experiences now At about 13:10, Akshaj replies to Pete’s question about books that have inspired and challenged him-he shouts out Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay At about 14:20, Pete follows up on how Akshaj might see Cha’s book differently after a few years and spending time in LA; Akshaj also talks about how an assignment in English class based on the novel brought him back into fiction At about 18:00, Pete and Akshaj read from and discuss Akshaj’s story written in English class, “The Tragedy of Antonio Solaris” At about 19:00, Akshaj talks about the variety of articles he has written for UCLA publications At about 20:25, Akshaj’s view of journalism and heavy topics and philosophies are discussed  At about 24:00, Akshaj shares an interesting idea about mitigating bias in journalistic work At about 24:40, Akshaj’s talks about his school senior project and connections to ideas of representation and his book for children, The Butterfly Effect At about 26:35, Akshaj’s pinpoints how he and illustrator Alexa Bandala approached the art for his children’s book At about 30:00, Akshaj’s reflects on lessons learned from reading stories with diverse representation to young kids At about 32:40, Akshaj shares his experience in mock trial and how having to be persuasive has informed and changed his writing At about 36:10, Pete wonders if/how Akshaj’s reading is different now that he is a published author, and Akshaj’s expands on how his writing has evolved   At about 39:15, Akshaj talks about his initial reading and later views of Krakauer’s Into the Wild At about 41:00, Akshaj talks about exciting future projects  At about          You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you’re checking out this episode.       I am very excited about having one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review.    Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl     Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month’s Patreon bonus episode features segments from conversations with Deesha Philyaw, Luis Alberto Urrea, Chris Stuck, and more, as they reflect on chill-inducing writing and writers that have inspired their own work.       This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 254 with Jami Attenberg, the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including The Middlesteins, All Grown Up and a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. Her work has been published in sixteen languages; her novel, A Reason to See You Again is set to be published September 24, which is when her episode will also drop.    Lastly, please go to ceasefiretoday.com, which features 10+ actions to help bring about Ceasefire in Gaza.