Arundhathi Subramaniam (left) discusses her new book “Women Who Were Only Themselves,” with Avni Vyas (Right) at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Tombolo Books

Two Indian authors and poets explore the beauty and mystery of women’s spiritual journeys, from Mumbai to Madeira Beach, at Tombolo this week.

Arundhathi Subramaniam’s newest book, “Women Who Were Only Themselves,” gives readers a glimpse into the lives of four female travelers on an unapologetically divine spiritual journey.

One left home to follow a long-dead saint, another is a yoga teacher and feels she missed out on childhood, the third believes spiritual life is anchored in the wisdom of the body following a car accident and the last woman found her joy in a local yoga class after resisting pressure to marry.

The esteemed author received her fair share of awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry 2020 (awarded by India’s premier literary institution), the Raza Award for Poetry and the SAARC Literature Award.

Her interviewer, Avni Vyas, is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at New College of Florida and a poet as well. Her chapbooks include “Little God,” “When I Was A Barefoot Cloud” and “Far from Glorious Feeling.”

There is no cover for “Women Who Wear Only Themselves – An Evening with Arundhathi Subramaniam” on Wednesday, July 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2025.