Tara Menon, whose debut novel has become one of the most acclaimed literary debuts of 2026 internationally, will attend a launch event in Bucharest on May 28 for the Romanian edition of her novel Under Water/Sub Apǎ. The event is organized by Editura Litera and will take place at Cărturești Carusel.
The event will feature a dialogue between Tara Menon and Romanian writer Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu.
According to the publisher, the novel explores themes including friendship, grief, racism, multicultural life, climate change, and natural disasters, while following a story that spans from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to Hurricane Sandy in New York in 2012.
The book tells the story of Marissa, who moves to a small Thai island after her mother’s death and forms a deep friendship with another girl, Arielle, before the two are separated during the 2004 tsunami.
Eight years later, Marissa lives in New York. She spends her days wandering through the city and her nights seeking comfort in strangers’ beds. As the city prepares for a devastating storm, Marissa reflects on her past and learns how to survive in a fragile world.
“Tara Menon’s literature is one in which vitality and loss coexist, where hurricanes and tsunamis unfold alongside brilliant friendships and fabulous journeys into the underwater world of manta rays. The ocean itself becomes an eccentric and terrifying character, while the humanity of the novel’s characters is written both lucidly and beautifully, through existential fragments spanning eight years, from the tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 to Hurricane Sandy hitting New York in 2012. Under Water is a magnificent novel about disasters and miracles, about bleak everyday life and wonder, constantly reshaping the texture of life,” said Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu, writer and communications director at Editura Litera.
The publication rights for the novel have been sold in more than 30 countries.
Tara Menon is an assistant professor in the English Department at Harvard University. Born in India and raised in Singapore, she previously studied at Columbia University and New York University.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: press release)
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