Articles, Interviews, Features, Profiles, Events, Travels

Tejas Desai has been featured and interviewed in many publications about The Brotherhood Chronicle, The Human Tragedy, The New Wei, his literary influences, his childhood in NYC, his work as a librarian, and his continuing worldwide travels. He has authored many articles on the state of the literary world and is working on a book about the indie arts scene in New York City.

Selected Articles by Tejas Desai:

"Fight or Flee: An All-American Dilemma" (Substack)

"Reflections on India" (Medium)

"Cassidy's Circus: Confessions and the NYC Underground Literary Scene" (Substack, Medium, Tumblr, Wordpress)

"The Light Side of the Moon: Scarlett Taylor's Veil" in The New Wei (Medium, Tumblr, Wordpress)

"Self-Publishing as a Means to My Own Literary Revolution" in Publishing Perspectives

"A Multicultural Writer's Dilemma" in Neworld Review

"America Lacks Multicultural Literature" in the Huffington Post

"Faulkner on the Subway" in Three Guys One Book

Selected Features and Articles about Tejas Desai:
"Tejas Desai's Bad Americans: A Bold Portrait of a Nation in Crisis" in California Gazette
"Queens Author Pens Pandemic-Era Novel" in Queens Chronicle
"The Human Tragedy Continues: Tejas Desai on Crafting Bad Americans: Part I" in Atlanta Wire
"Tejas Desai's Bad Americans: A Bold Pandemic-Era Masterpiece" in LA Wire

"Tejas Desai's Bad Americans: Part I Explores Unity, Division and the Pandemic Experience" in Texas Today

"Tejas Desai Unveils Bad Americans: Part I, A Bold New Pandemic Novel that Redefines Storytelling" in San Francisco Post

"Local Express: Tejas Desai" in Queens Gazette

"Tejas Desai's Literary Innovation: A New Approach for Publishing Fiction" in Influencer Daily

"An American Epic for the Pandemic Age: Tejas Desai's Bad Americans" in New York Weekly

"What is a Bad American?" Tejas Desai's Pandemic Novel Challenges, Provokes and Moves in Miami Wire

"He Must Bend the Rules" in Literary Titan

"Giving Indie Authors a Voice" in American Libraries

"Out of the Box Programming: An Interview with Tejas Desai" in the NYLA Voice

"Oxford Alumni Authors Feature: January 2021 Edition" in University of Oxford North American Alumni Site

"Alumnus Pursues Dual Career as Writer-Librarian" in QView

"Bestselling Author Tejas Desai on Success, Storytelling and Social Media" in Thrive Global

"You Just Have To Read This..." in Wesleyan News

"Author Tejas Desai Opens Up About His Bestselling Book The Dance Towards Death" in USA Reformer

"Bestselling Author Tejas Desai Takes us Deep into the World of International Crime" in The American Reporter

"Flushing Author Pens Compelling Sequel After Life-Changing Pandemic Experience" in QNS

"Bestselling Author Tejas Desai Discusses his Latest Book The Dance Towards Death" in The Vistek

"The Brotherhood: Author Tejas Desai Completes his #1 Selling Trilogy" in The Wave

"Best-selling author Tejas Desai Talks The Dance Towards Death" in Digital Journal

"Delving into the Mystery that is Bestselling Novelist Tejas Desai" in California Herald

"Bestselling Novelist Tejas Desai Opens Up About His Thought Provoking Book The Brotherhood" in Buzzfeed

"Bestselling Novelist Tejas Desai Discusses The Brotherhood Chronicle Series" in the NYK Daily

"Bestselling Author Tejas Desai Discusses His Breakout Series, The Brotherhood Chronicle" in the London Post

"Going Deep with Bestselling Author Tejas Desai about His International Crime Series and More" in the LA Post-Examiner

"Chatting with Bestselling Author Tejas Desai about his Breakout Novel The Brotherhood" in The New York Journal

"Novelist Tejas Desai discusses his new thriller The Run and Hide" on QPTV with Gary Scudero

"Flushing Author's Mystery Book Series Keeps Readers Guessing" in the Queens Courier

"An American Duty" Truth to Power Show Interview on Radio Free Brooklyn with Poet Vijay R. Nathan

Fundraising Video Interview on The Brotherhood Chronicle by The New Wei

QPTV Interview with Gary Scudero on his Talents Unlimited Show: Part I Part II Part III

"Being American" Truth to Power Show Interview on Radio Free Brooklyn with Poet Vijay R. Nathan

Traveler's 411 Radio Interview with Stephanie Abrams (about 24 minutes in)

Behind the Words Radio Interview with Lori Hays of Authors on the Air

Total Education Network Radio Interview with the Total Tutor Neil Haley

Q&A with W3 Sidecar

Interview with a Queens Fiction Author with Matthew Allison

An Interview with Tejas Desai with Vault of Books (great interview, but currently offline)

An Interview with Tejas Desai by Generasian, NYU's Asian-American Magazine

The author has read from his books and given author talks throughout the country. NYC venues include KGB Bar, Guerrilla Lit Series, Sunday Salon, Oh Bernice! Reading Series, CUNY Turnstyle Reading Series, Jamaica Center Reading Series, the Queens Library and the Queens Book Festival. He has exhibited at Book Expo, AWP Conference (Seattle, Boston etc.), NYC Poetry Festival and the Brooklyn Book Festival. He delivered the lectures "Disseminating Multicultural Works Through Self-Publishing" at the NYLA Conference and "Revolutionizing Multicultural Literature" at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. He has spoken at many venues including the Langston Hughes Literary Arts Festival, his alma mater The Bronx High School of Science, the NYLA, ALA LibLearnX, ALA Annual Conferences and many others.

As a librarian, he has worked at the busiest libraries in the world, including Queens Central Library, Bayside, and Corona, bringing passion and innovative initiatives everywhere he goes. He is currently an Asst. Manager/Supervising Librarian at the Cambria Heights Community Library in NYC, one of Queens' top programming branches, where he sets up hundreds of programs a month, supervises a large staff, runs the annual Southeast Queens Author Festival and maintains one of the few Indie Author Collections in NYC Libraries. He is also currently President of New York Library Association's Ethnic Services Roundtable, as well as an active member of ALA's EMIERT and SustainRT.

He was formerly at the Corona Community Library where he ran the Symposium Book Club and oversaw various initiatives at one of the busiest community libraries in NYC. He also worked for many years at the Queens Central Library. His achievements and contributions to librarianship are detailed on his Linkedin Page. These include a Self-Publishing Resources Page he created (currently offline), and a Writer's Workshop he taught for two years, culminating in the Queens Noir Author Event.

He has created a wide range of programs including film series, fiction and poetry readings, e-publishing workshops, and much more, working with organizations such as Asian American Writers Workshop and Poet's House, among others. His programming ideology for ethnic communities has been published in the volume Connecting Cultures. His thesis for his MLS, "20th Century Novels: A Content Analysis" (2007) is available at Queens College's Rosenthal Library, as is the first draft of "The Brotherhood" (2009) which was his thesis for his MFA in Creative Writing and Literary Translation.

The author has dabbled in film as an actor, assistant director and production assistant. His IMDB profile is available here. In 2012, he directed an amateur book trailer for The Brotherhood, available on Youtube and Vimeo. He has also written detailed film screenplay treatments, including "The Descent of Tom Riddle" (2007), and a play called "Bequest" (2008). Besides the many literary honors he has received for his books, he also won awards in college and high school for his short stories and poetry. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University, CUNY-Queens College, and The Bronx High School of Science. He studied abroad at the University of Oxford.

Tejas Desai is a frequent worldwide traveler. This includes his Road Trips Across America, and his adventures throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and South America over the last 25+ years. He documents these adventures on his primary Facebook page and will eventually write a book about his journeys. He also uses Instagram, Linkedin, Goodreads Medium and X.

Upcoming Events

11/22/2025: Author Talk at Briarwood Library at 2:30pm-3:30pm

11/19/2025: Publishing For Writers: Panel Discussion at Great Neck Public Library, 7pm-8:30pm

11/7/2025: Bad Americans: Exploring the Pandemic Experience Through Diverse Storytelling at the NYLA Conference/Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, NY at 2:15pm-3:30pm

10/30/2025: Author Talk at Ridgewood Library at 6:30pm-7:30pm

10/22/2025: Author Talk at Oceanside Library (Bad Americans: Exploring the Pandemic Experience Through Diverse Storytelling) (View on Youtube)

10/4/2025: Southeast Queens Author Festival at Cambria Heights Library at 1pm-4pm

9/21/2025: Brooklyn Book Festival with The New Wei Author Collective 10am-5pm at Booths 133 and 134 near the Brooklyn Heights Library

Selected Appearances since 2018:

Reinvigorating Green Spaces for Library Services, ALA Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA on Sunday June 29th, 2025 @ 9:00am-10:30am

Reinvigorating Green Spaces for Library Services at ALA LibLearnX Conference-Phoenix, AZ on Sunday January 26, 2025 @ 10:15am

Radio Free Brooklyn Celebration (10th Anniversary). Truth to Power Show in May 2025

Confronting Literary Segregation: Supporting Indie Authors in Libraries, Combating Racism Series, NYLA-ESRT, Wed Jan 15, 2025. Time 12:30pm-1:30pm

NYLA-ESRT Meeting/Inauguration of Tejas Desai as ESRT President, Salt City Market, NYLA Conference, Syracuse, NY on Thursday Nov 7, 2024 @ 6pm

Author Raj Tawney in Conversation with Tejas Desai at Parthenon Books, NYLA Conference in Syracuse, NY November 6, 2024 @4:45pm

Southeast Queens Author Festival, Cambria Heights, NY Saturday October 26, 2024 @ 1pm-4pm

Let's Get Real about Climate Impacts to Library Services ALA Annual Conference-San Diego, CA June 30, 2024 @ 11AM

ALA Sustainability Roundtable Author Extravaganza: 4 Authors 4 U (Online Event) March 18, 2024

Author Event: Tejas Desai Presents the Brotherhood Chronicle (YouTube) at Bryant Library in Roslyn, NY, December 3, 2023 @ 2:00PM

How to Get Published: A Local Author Roundtable (Youtube link), Great Neck Library, Great Neck, NY December 8, 2022 @ 7PM

Southeast Queens Author Festival, Cambria Heights Library, Queens, NY Saturday October 29, 2022 Webex Link

Author Event: Tejas Desai at Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT, Saturday August 13, 2022 @ 1PM-3PM YouTube Link

Author Talk: Tejas Desai at Boise Public Library, Boise, Idaho, Thursday May 26, 2022 @ 6PM-7:30PM

Supporting Indie Authors at 2022 ALA LibLearnX, Saturday January 22, 2022 @ 2:30 PM

2021 Indie Author Day-YouTube Reading on Saturday November 13, 2021 @ 1:30 PM

The Run and Hide: A Thrill Ride of Storytelling and Music with Greg Holt virtually via Queens Public Library's Facebook Live Platform, Tuesday October 19, 2021 @ 7-8PM Facebook Live Link  Youtube Link

The Run and Hide: A Thrill Ride of Storytelling and Music with Greg Holt LIVE inside the Union Square Subway Station on Sunday Sept 19, 2021 @ 6-7PM (in collaboration with MTA's Music under New York Program and City Artists Corps)

Pandemic Book Reading-Good Americans by Tejas Desai, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio and Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald on Friday May 8, 2020 at 6PM (Link Reading Password: 4gRYwJhg)

Online Reading of The Brotherhood Chronicle on Wednesday April 22, 2020 at 6PM (Link Reading Password: Dra5n8xj)

[Postponed] Featured Author at Show & Tell with Matt Waters, Monthly Reading Series in East Village, at Otto's Shruken Head, May 2, 2:30-3:45 PM

[Postponed] Novelist Tejas Desai Discusses The Brotherhood Chronicle at Kew Gardens Hills Library, Sunday April 5, 2020 @ 2:30PM

[Postponed] SE Asia Trip: February 2020: Follow Tejas Desai's adventures on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Goodreads

"Novelist Tejas Desai discusses his new thriller The Run and Hide"on QPTV with Gary Scudero on 9/10/19

The New Wei Presentation at 10th Annual Langston Hughes Literary Arts Festival, 12:30 PM December 1, 2018

Indie Author Day at Central Library on October 20, 2018

"An American Duty" Truth to Power Show Interview on Radio Free Brooklyn

The Brotherhood Chronicle Fundraising Campaign

January 9, 2018: QPTV Interview with Gary Scudero on his Talents Unlimited Show