Tarini Sipahimalani, Assistant Editor

Tarini Sipahimalani joined Putnam in 2021 and acquires bold, voice-driven upmarket fiction. She’s drawn to emotionally resonant and psychologically provocative stories that speak to the universalities of the human experience, excavate cultural truths, and offer an incisive reflection of the world by visceral way of mind. She loves binge-reads that don’t shy away from characters’ messy or darker depths, and narratives that span the spectrum from haunting to healing, be it by connecting the peculiar with the sublime, a sweeping love story with a strong coming-of-self arc, or through a striking sardonic voice.

Tarini’s recent and upcoming titles include Japanese bestsellers in translation The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida, and Messenger Cat in a Cafe by Nagi Shimeno; Korean bestseller The Hyehwa-Dong Grandma by Kim Jiyun; vibrant queer coming-of-age debut Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee; Winging It with You by beloved bookstagrammer Chip Pons; explosive literary thriller Until Alison by Kate Russo; screenwriter Kirsten King’s A Good Person, a dark comedic twist on the spouse-suspect trope; Salomé by Leslie Baird, a contemporary gothic and feminist reclamation of the original femme fatale; acclaimed author Laura Sims’ The Man, exploring art, violence, fame, ownership, and the very real threats that linger inside and outside the confines of the mind; and award-winning translator Lizzie Buehler’s endearingly funny debut The Obsessed, a big-hearted portrait of the anxieties of desire. She also edits #1 New York Times bestseller John Sandford, Jeffery Deaver, and the Stuart Woods estate.