Author Feature: P. Paramita, Celebrating Debut Novel APPETITE

Registration required to attend. Ticket options are either a purchase of: 1) the featured book as the event ticket OR 2)a $5 credit for an in-store purchase. Must be redeemed at the event. 1 credit redemption per purchase.

All purchases of APPETITE as the event ticket & at the event will include a gorgeous & exclusive art print!

Join author P. Paramita for the launch of their propulsive, heartfelt, and utterly original debut about a young chef trying to find her way in a world that’s not built for her to succeed—and the pro wrestler she idolizes who derails everything. Narrative is incredibly thrilled to host Paramita as our first featured Bangladeshi author, an honor we have been dreaming of since our opening as a Bangladeshi immigrant-woman owned independent bookshop that emphasizes marginalized identities & building community. We hope you'll join us for this very special evening of connection & celebration!

AUTHOR BIO:

P. Paramita is a Bangladesh-born, New Haven-based writer, professor, and pop culture enthusiast. Paramita holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, where P was a recipient of the Waletzky Fellowship. Paramita’s debut novel APPETITE has been named a most anticipated title of 2026 by Debutiful and Electric Literature."

APPETITE:
Zarina, a prep cook at a fancy New Haven restaurant, is underpaid, overworked, and might as well be invisible. The only upside: they get to take home leftover ingredients. Every night, Zarina whips up modern spins on the Bangladeshi dishes she grew up eating, all while enjoying her second greatest passion: professional wrestling. Namely, Zarina’s hero Sierra Myst—the massively successful, high-flying heel who’s built like a superhero and is every bit as confident and daring as one. 
One night, Zarina posts online about one of Sierra Myst’s wins, and the most improbable thing happens: Sierra reaches out to Zarina. Zarina is elated at the chance to become closer with her idol, and at first, their friendship is everything Zarina’s ever dreamed of. Zarina’s confidence grows, their world gets bigger, and opening their own restaurant doesn’t feel quite so impossible. But as the weeks fly by, Zarina starts to feel more like Sierra’s unpaid personal assistant and relationship counselor—and her desire to make Sierra happy eclipses their own goals and threatens everything they’ve worked for.
Deliciously unsettling and ultimately uplifting, Appetite is about the unique torture of being a twenty-something who’s torn between the person someone else wants you to be and the person you really are.

“Peerless in its wily and humorous blend of back-of-house restaurant life, internet fan culture, and the extravagant pageantry of pro-wrestling, P. Paramita’s Appetite holds a mirror to the puzzling ways humans sometimes find themselves connecting with one another, on and offline. It’s as comforting as a warm hug—prepare to be captivated, and hungry.”—Jinwoo Chong, author of I Leave It Up to You
“P. Paramita’s Appetite is a love song to fusion, to kitchens, to wrestling, to mustard, to FaceTime across time zones, to risks on all scales . . . and most of all, it’s a love song to dreaming and friendship, and the ways care and creativity and hunger make everything else possible. This is a deeply modern story about the relationship between our digital and embodied lives, and also a tale that feels timeless, told from the heart, about heritage and reinvention and hope.”—Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
“I flew through Appetite in one hungry sitting—chest racing, mouth watering, and seriously questioning if I should make women’s wrestling my new personality. Appetite examines cult-fandom in the era of questionable parasocial relationships and the compromises we make at the chance to meet our heroes. A delicious debut full of warmth, ambition, and what it means to peel back the mask of performance and take the stage anyway. Warning: have snacks on hand before reading. A lot of them.”—Haley Jakobson, author of Old Enough

“At its core, Appetite dissects the funny intimacy between a searching brown immigrant woman and the wealthy, enigmatic white celebrity she idolizes. Paramita examines this dynamic with scalpel-sharp insight, revealing how admiration and power can blur into something more dangerous. Here, hunger is never just about food.” - New Haven Independent

EVENT SCHEDULE:

-6:50PM: Registered guest check-in

-7:00PM: Event start, author talk + audience Q&A

-8:00PM: Author meet & greet/signing line, reception, guests are welcome to browse Narrative's curation & check out

-9:00PM: Shop closing time

Registration availability is subject to capacity. Further details will be emailed to all registered guests prior to the event. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.