Join the Georgia Center for the Book and A Capella Books for an afternoon (3 p.m. start time) with bestselling author Aisha Saeed to celebrate the release of her new novel, The Wedding Week! She'll be in conversation with Shelly Anand. Long-buried secrets resurface when a woman returns home for her sister’s lavish resort wedding in the Everglades, where gossiping aunties and Burmese pythons aren’t the only threats, in this suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Matchmaker. Free registration requested, not required.

About The Wedding Week: It's been three years since Hena Mirza saw her family. Three years since her fiancé mysteriously vanished on their wedding day. Three years since everyone decided she was to blame.

When her younger sister, Lulu, calls with shocking news—she’s getting married in forty-eight hours and their mother is dying—Hena’s plan is simple: fly home, say goodbye, and leave before she reopens old wounds. But nothing about the trip is simple. This isn’t a one-day event. It’s an eight-day desi wedding with a guest list that eerily mirrors the one from her own failed nuptials. And though Hena feels unexpected sparks fly with two men in the wedding party—a childhood friend and a newcomer unfamiliar with her history—the remaining guests quickly make it clear: No one is happy she’s back.

Then Lulu’s carefully planned itinerary goes awry. Hena initially dismisses the strange incidents, but as days pass and the sabotage escalates, it seems that someone is determined to destroy the wedding, just as Hena’s was destroyed years ago. To survive this week, she’ll have to uncover the culprit behind these attacks . . . before the past she’s tried to outrun finally catches up to her.

About the Author: Aisha Saeed is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Matchmaker. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her family.

About the Moderator: 

Shelly Anand is the author of the acclaimed picture book Laxmi’s Mooch, a joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl’s journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache. Laxmi was featured on the Today show, NBC News, and Glamour magazine, and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. Shelly’s second book, I Love My Body Because, co-authored by Nomi Ellenson, is a gentle and poetic picture book for the youngest readers about celebrating your own body and all the different, wonderful bodies that make up our world. Her third, and most recent picture book, In This Family has been celebrated as " a rich and inviting portrait of a loving multiracial family" by Kirkus Reviews. In addition to writing children’s picture books, Shelly has had a 15 year legal career dedicated to advancing the rights of immigrants and workers across the Deep South as a bilingual staff attorney with Georgia Legal Services Program, a litigator with the US Department of Labor, and an immigrant rights attorney with Tahirih Justice Center. In October 2020, she co-founded Sur Legal Collaborative, an immigrant and worker rights nonprofit legal organization, in response to COVID-19 after seeing that many of her immigrant clients had been deemed essential workers and knew nothing about their labor rights, particularly in the safety and health context.