Author Q&A: Ekta R. Garg

Ekta R. Garg ’02 MS published her most recent book, The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories, last August, and it is one of the 2026 NU Loyal Summer Reading List picks. It also won a bronze medal in the 2025 Reader Views Literary Awards.

Garg’s first book, The Truth About Elves, won the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards honor for best novella and is a holiday story for grownups about what it’s like to work part-time for Santa as an elf. Her second book, In the Heart of the Linden Wood, won for best cover at the 2024 Kindle Book Awards and is an original fairy tale for adults about what comes after “happily ever after.” All three of these books won second place in their respective categories in The BookFest Awards in 2025—best short story collection, best novella, and best fantasy novel.

In addition to being an author, Garg is the content manager of a magazine based in Central Illinois, as well as a book reviewer, editor, and avid reader. This July, Garg will begin her tenure as the executive director for the Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp and Writing Retreat in Racine, Wisconsin. She graciously answered questions for the NU Loyal newsletter in the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.

What drew you to Northwestern, and more specifically, to the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, for your graduate studies?

As I was wrapping up my undergraduate experience at the University of South Carolina, I knew I needed to push myself to another level if I wanted to excel and continue to hone my skills as a member of the media. The associate dean of our college of journalism and one of my professors were both Medill alums, and they encouraged me to apply. I was nervous—I didn’t know if I had the chops to be admitted to such a prestigious program—but they believed in me and both wrote letters of recommendation for me. Thanks to their confidence in my abilities and potential, I took a chance on myself and applied.

How did Northwestern shape who you are and what you do today?  

My MS in journalism is in magazine publishing, and I’m currently the content coordinator and managing editor of a monthly, ad-supported, community-based magazine in Central Illinois. Everything I did for my degree echoes in my daily routine of working on the magazine, even all these years later. The magazine’s publishers have often complimented the level of professionalism I display in dealing with ad clients as I discuss editorial content as well as the polish of my writing. This comes directly from my training at Medill and Northwestern at large. Northwestern demands nothing but excellence from its students, because it wants students to expect it of themselves. I’ve always been a conscientious team player, but Medill drilled it into me in a way that has made it part of my instincts in my work.

Congratulations on the publication of The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories! How did your time at Northwestern prepare you for the experience of writing this book?  

Thank you so much! Being a practicing member of the media who values integrity and authenticity means pushing myself every single day to produce my best work. Northwestern truly made that obvious not only in philosophy, but in practice every day. I chose the hybrid publishing route for my books, so I have to adapt and pivot to a marketplace more often than a traditional author might need to. My time at Northwestern prepared me to do both. If something doesn’t work out, I agonize about it for about 10 minutes and then sit down and figure out how to accomplish what I need to get done. A place like Northwestern sets up its students to do that as a matter of course, no matter what the field.

What would you like readers to know about The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories?  

The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories is a micro-collection of short stories based on the fairy tales and nursery rhymes we all know and love, and it fills in the gaps of those stories by answering very “serious” questions like, “Why did Jack and Jill need that pail of water in the first place?” 

If you’re a fan of works like The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer or Wicked (the book or the movies), my book will most likely appeal to you.

What is something that surprised you—or might surprise other people—about the process of writing short stories?  

The fact that not every story question needs to be answered. In long-form writing, particularly with novels, authors like to address the big things in such a way that readers often get concrete answers to story questions. Short stories don’t necessarily need to be tied up so neatly; readers are provided with story facts that, hopefully, are satisfying, but we don’t always know what happens at the end. But that’s part of the fun. A short story is a single snapshot; a novel or longer work is an entire photo album.

Do you have any advice from your journey as an author for anyone else aspiring to this profession? 

First, read as much as you possibly can, both inside your genre and out. It’s important to expose yourself to all kinds of writing and different ideas. You don’t have to like it or agree with the ideas, but you should be respectful of the fact that they exist and that someone produced them. By respecting others’ work, you’ll be more likely to garner respect for your own when your time comes.

Second, set up a consistent, regular writing practice that works for you. This does not have to be every day. In addition to being writers, most of us play other roles. We’re parents and spouses; we’re caregivers and employees. We volunteer and we travel and we get sick and are surprised by good and bad things. Consider the time that’s available to you, and make your writing fit there. If that means all you can write is 500 words on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then write 500 words on Tuesdays and Thursdays—making it a standing commitment—and don’t agonize over the other days. No one knows your life like you do; no one understands what demands you have on your time. Give yourself the grace to handle what you need to handle and write what and when you need to write.

What are your favorite things to do when you are not writing?

Read, of course! My mother has been complaining since I was about four years old that I have an unhealthy attachment to books. I tell her it’s better to be “addicted” to books than other things; the worst side effect is being sleepy the next day and circles under my eyes because I was up too late with my Kindle!

Also, I love a good movie or TV show, whether they’re new to me or something I’ve seen a thousand times. I relish the opportunity to experience storytelling in this medium and to be swept away by someone else’s plots and characters. In what I love to watch, I include a lot of Bollywood; as the child of immigrants, I grew up watching stars like Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, and so many others waltz their way across the Alps and fight society for the right to their love more times than I can count. That’s probably another reason why I love fairy tale-type stories so much and believe in magic in everyday life.

I really do love spending time with my family and friends. I’d always been a family-oriented person growing up, but since losing my dad in January 2024, time with my loved ones has become even more precious. There’s nothing like a game night with my nearest and dearest or an hour-long call every month with my best friends from college to soothe life’s frustrations and disappointments.

What else are you working on?

I’m very excited and pleased that people have been responding so well to The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories, and I decided to start working on another micro-collection that’s similar—five stories that fill in the gaps of the nursery rhymes and fairy tales we all know and love. The Witch’s Apprentice had more of a fairy tale influence; this next collection will connect more to nursery rhymes.

Explore other books on the NU Loyal 2026 Summer Reading List, featuring selected works by some of Northwestern’s esteemed alumni.