Order a signed, personalized copy at Garcia Street Books. You can purchase the book over the phone (505-986-0151) and they ship nationwide.

From the Publisher

TAKE WING AND FLY HERE is the first novel in Priyanka Kumar’s New West Trilogy, which explores our changing relationship with the outdoors in the American West. Set in Southern California, this delightful novel about birding tells the story of a Ph.D. candidate in physics whose life begins to unravel after he takes on a Big Year challenge. J.K.’s main competitor is the president of the oldest birding society in America, which is facing bankruptcy in its Centennial year. A brilliant, tightly woven narrative about ambition and fraught relationships, all while pursuing birds in the beautiful California hills and coast.

Praise for TAKE WING AND FLY HERE

I was delighted by Take Wing and Fly Here, for its natural history and ecological vision, as well as for its human drama. Kumar captures well the combination of affection, curiosity, and ambition in high-intensity birding, and she richly evokes the landscapes.

—Scott Russell Sanders, author of Earth Works and Hunting for Hope

This engaging novel uses the social backdrop of the diverse, colorful and competitive California birding scene to explore the emotional and dynamic side of human relations and human ambition. You don’t need to be a birder to get caught up in the story; be warned you will likely become one before you are through.

—Pete Dunne, Director, Cape May Bird Observatory, author of Tales of a Low-Rent Birder and Pete Dunne on Bird Watching.

Take Wing and Fly Here is an articulate, erudite, passionate, compelling read from first page to last. Clearly author Priyanka Kumar is as talented a novelist as she is a writer, director, and producer of documentaries (see The Song of the Little Road). A superb read and highly recommended for personal summer reading lists and community library contemporary fiction collections.

—The Midwest Book Review

Kumar has the most unique talent. She is one of the most gifted writers I know. Her storytelling gifts make all of us sit up and take notice.

—Joan Tewkesbury, author of Ebba and the Green Dresses of Olivia Gomez in a Time of Conflict and War, screenwriter of Nashville.

Set against the quicksand passions of “Big Year” birding, Priyanka Kumar’s characters explore the very wilds of nature and the human heart. Kumar is master of the hunt. Whether hiking out to warbling cowbirds or to see a flock of phalaropes spinning in a pond, we view it all through the spotting scope of her remarkable prose. The poetry of the landscape and the birds become all one song. There is an intelligence and a clear and honest heart at the center of Kumar’s writing. This book is an extravagant dessert at the end of a feast.

—James Ragan, author of The World Shouldering I, and Too Long a Solitude.

Priyanka Kumar has written an engaging novel filled with characters who love birds and the great outdoors. Those of us who belong to one or more of Audubon’s 450 chapters across the USA will recognize ourselves and others in these colorful and very human characters.

—Jane Alexander, National Audubon Society Board of Directors

The story, that intertwines unforgettable characters with the management of the oldest birding society in the United States, combines humor and emotion with remarkable descriptions of nature. The prose flows easily, like a bird taking flight. A pure delight to read.

—Teresa Dovalpage, author of A Girl like Che Guevara, Habanera, and The Astral Plane, Stories of Cuba, the Southwest and Beyond.

Praise for THE SONG OF THE LITTLE ROAD (North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. Written, Directed, and Produced by Priyanka Kumar. Canada-U.S.A. 70 minutes)

“Pick of the Week”

—Los Angeles Times

“A superb new documentary.…Drawing from interviews with a diverse group of Satyajit Ray’s colleagues and supporters including Ravi Shankar, Martin Scorsese and others, Kumar’s documentary is a quiet, subtle meditation on the life and art of one of the world’s greatest filmmakers.

“Crafted through a dreamy series of still shots of interviewees and moving clips from Ray’s films, The Song of the Little Road is a testament to the significant contributions Ray made in his lifetime – as well as the perseverance of dedicated film archivists and Ray admirers who have helped save his works from near disintegration. Includes interviews with Ismail Merchant, Mike Pogorzelski — Head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Film Archive, Peter Rainer — film critic, and more.”

—American Cinematheque

“I am a fan of Priyanka’s film”

—Kenneth Turan, film critic, Los Angeles Times

“Gorgeous!”

—Mira Nair, Director (Salaam Bombay, The Namesake)

A documentary by director Priyanka Kumar on Satyajit Ray, called The Song Of The Little Road, I’m happy to say, was well‑received. A number of film restorers, who are local to L.A., are interviewed in the film, about the terrible state of the condition of a lot of the original negatives of Ray’s movies, and the work in restoring them. And Ravi Shankar and Scorsese are also interviewed at length in this film.

—Film Week, National Public Radio

“Priyanka Kumar has compiled a touching tribute to neglected Indian film genius Satyajit Ray which eventually wins over even those like me who had never heard of him… Scorsese says they (Ray’s films) were ‘one of the great cinematic experiences of all time which were very important when I was making my own films. They were so foreign yet so personal.’”

—Stephen Breen, The Royal Gazette

“Satyajit Ray is, without doubt, and artist ripe for rediscovery… The documentary succeeds in introducing us to Ray, peppered as it is throughout with mesmerizing clips from many of his films.”

—Nigel Regan, Bermuda Sun

“The director Satyajit Ray was to India what Fellini was to Italy and Bergman to Sweden – an artist whose momentous achievements virtually defined a national cinema. This documentary by Priyanka Kumar is a thoughtful, intelligent examination of Ray’s life and legacy….”

—The Film Watch, Telluride, Colorado

ANTHOLOGIES

First and Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100

New Mexico Poetry Anthology

Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly Journal