Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
📚 Invitation: Book Club Open House + Launch Party + Origami Workshop (free!)
🥳 Book Tour: In-Person Event Dates and Locations
✍🏼 Autographed Copies: where to get them
📖 Book Description: The Incredible Kindness of Paper
📚 Invitation: Book Club Open House + Launch Party (free!)
I am so excited to invite everyone to an “open house” book club in August!
Usually our “Read Like a Writer” Book Club is for paid subscribers, but we’re flinging open the doors on August 17th for everyone, for free.
Why?
We’re going to celebrate the two years of love and hard work that went into my novel, The Incredible Kindness of Paper, which will finally be in bookstores on August 12th!
BONUS: I will also teach you how to make two kinds of paper roses, just like the ones in The Incredible Kindness of Paper.
💛 JOIN ME ON AUGUST 17th:
If you’ve ever wondered what our Book Club is like
or you just want to celebrate with me!
📚 Our Book Clubby Launch Party
Do you feel powerless in a world that is constantly shouting outrage and sadness?
But do you also believe that a random act of kindness might have the potential change the trajectory of a life?
This is a book about people and our ability to make a difference through small acts that might seem like nothing to us, but that mean everything to someone else.
💬 During the book discussion:
There’s no book I know better than my own, so let’s dive deep behind-the-scenes into how it was written!
The Incredible Kindness of Paper is the most narratively complex book I’ve ever written:
4 timelines, told from 2 perspectives = 8 storylines to juggle!
Different types of writing:
present action,
flashbacks to the past, and
epistolary (letter exchange/penpal relationship)
Eight points of view
How did I weave in POV chapters of six secondary characters while balancing with the main story of Chloe and Oliver?
Author mission
When is it appropriate to write with a message or theme in mind?
How do you make sure the story itself still guides the book, rather than hitting the reader over the head with a “moral”?
🏵️ Paper Rose Origami Tutorial
I’m going to teach you how to make two different kinds of paper roses:
a very easy non-origami one (this is great for those of us who are not crafty)
a trickier, real-origami rose
The invitation link below includes a list of the kind of paper you need. (You’re also welcome to just watch and try it later, if you don’t have paper on hand.)
Launch Party/Book Club + Paper Rose Workshop:
Sunday, August 17, 2025
8pm ET / 5pm PT
» In case you missed our July “Read Like a Writer” book club discussion about Crazy Rich Asians, you can find the video recording HERE.
🥳 Book Tour: In-Person Event Dates and Locations
Are you in the Bay Area? Come see me in-person:
PALO ALTO, CA - Wednesday, August 13th at 7pm PT
EVELYN SKYE in conversation with ALKA JOSHI
Book signing to follow
BOOKS INC. at Town and Country Village
855 El Camino Real #74, Palo Alto, CA 94301
FREE RSVP HERE
or
LIVERMORE, CA - Thursday, August 21 at 10am
Coffee & Conversations
TOWNE CENTER BOOKS Livermore (near the Bankhead)
2375 Railroad Ave STE 100, Livermore, CA 94550
FREE RSVP HERE
✍🏼 Autographed Copies!
If you want an autographed copy and you want to support an independent bookstore, you can preorder The Incredible Kindness of Paper at my local indie, Books Inc. Palo Alto.
» All orders placed by August 17th can be autographed and personalized with your name.
Just put a note in your online order that says:
PALO ALTO store: Autographed copy, please!
Personalize to [insert your name or the name of your friend/family member].
📖 Book Description: The Incredible Kindness of Paper
Can one random act of kindness change the trajectory of a life?
In elementary school, Chloe Hanako Quinn is assigned Oliver Jones as her pen pal partner. Before sending her letter, she also whispers a note into it… and he hears her. Little does she know it would be the beginning of a friendship that would bloom into something more. That is, until disaster strikes, and Oliver and his family disappear without a trace.
Now over twenty years later, Chloe is a high school guidance counselor in New York City. But life in the Big Apple is not what she dreamed it would be as she faces a layoff, rising rent, a situationship, and loneliness. Desperate for encouragement, she gives herself a pep talk via uplifting messages written on yellow origami paper that she folds into roses. When one of the roses unexpectedly finds its way to a neighbor in need of cheering up, a desire to spread kindness and optimism is sparked in Chloe, who begins folding more roses and leaving them around town.
Across the city, Oliver has picked himself up from the rough circumstances that forced him to leave everything behind as a teenager—including Chloe. Now a successful financial analyst, Oliver’s past continues to haunt him. But when the city is suddenly inundated with yellow origami roses, a specific one finds its way into his hands and changes his life forever…
Preorder now if you want the book in time for the launch party:
Autographed copies (see order instructions above):
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