P. Paramita’s ‘Appetite’ sells out on launch day at New York’s Strand Bookstore

A Bangladeshi story found an eager audience in the heart of New York as P. Paramita’s debut novel, Appetite, sold out its available copies on the day of its launch at the historic Strand Bookstore in Manhattan on August 6, 2026.

Appetite, published by Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, follows Zarina, a Bangladeshi immigrant working as a restaurant cook in the United States and an ardent fan of American professional wrestler Sierra Mist. Through Zarina’s life, the novel examines the increasingly complicated relationship between celebrities and their fans in the age of social media, while also tracing her dream of introducing Bangladeshi food to American audiences on its own terms.

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The launch brought the novel to life before a packed audience at Strand’s event space, where Paramita was in conversation with writer Haley Jakobson. She read excerpts from the novel before taking questions from the audience and signing copies. More than a hundred writers, artists, publishers and readers from New York and New Haven attended the event.
According to Prothom Alo, copies brought to the event, including additional copies ordered by Strand in anticipation of strong demand, quickly sold out. Event coordinators noted that the store had already been receiving a positive response to the book’s promotion. Readers who had pre-ordered copies formed a queue for Paramita’s autograph, while others arrived carrying cakes and specially printed T-shirts featuring the novel.

The sellout marks a striking beginning to Paramita’s literary journey in the United States. P. Paramita, born in Dhaka and educated at Sunbeams School, holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Appetite now continues its journey beyond New York, with Paramita’s USA book tour taking her to bookstores in New Haven, Providence, Somerville and Washington, DC, through September.

For a debut that carries Bangladesh into the kitchens, wrestling rings and restless fandom of contemporary America, Appetite has certainly begun with an appetite of its own.

Rifah Tashfia Islam is a postgraduate student at North South University and an intern at Star Books and Literature. A writer and dreamer, she is often found chasing stories and romanticising ordinary moments.