On Earth as It Is in Heaven
stories by Vishwas R. Gaitonde
Winner of The 2023 Orison Fiction Prize, selected by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
*available for pre-order*
Orison Books
paper / $20.00
Print ISBN: 978-1-949039-60-3
E-book ISBN: 978-1-949039-61-0Distributed to the trade by Itasca Books
952-223-8373 / orders@itascabooks.com
Publication Date: September 2, 2025
ABOUT THE BOOK
To turn earth into heaven is a tall order, but no matter where they live on this planet, the people in these stories hold out hope that at least a small portion of heaven might brighten their patch of earth. A doctor and his relatives are at loggerheads over whether England will be more of a paradise if a splash of Pakistan is added. A Tamil doctor who flees his homeland torn by civil war struggles to make a new life in the American Midwest. A New Zealander visiting India strikes up an unlikely friendship with a little boy facing hard times. An American mother struggles to live without her son following the Iraq War. A Sri Lankan aboriginal finds (and then loses) her paradise when confronted with visiting researchers several years apart. These vivid characters and more demonstrate what connects us all, no matter where we're from or where we find ourselves.
PRAISE
"This luminous collection of short stories spans the globe, introducing us to memorable characters and written in exquisite prose. The men and women in these tales—many of whom are émigrés and expatriates—struggle to make sense of the customs and traditions of their new homes while also negotiating the passages of their personal and familial relationships. I was deeply moved by these stories and the characters’ travails and triumphs. It is indeed a pleasure to welcome this fantastic new voice in world literature."
—David Heska Wanbli Weiden, judge of The 2023 Orison Fiction Prize
"What a gifted writer Vishwas R. Gaitonde is, and how deftly these wonderful stories move between the UK, the US, and India; between young and old, men and women, past and present. Gaitonde captures the struggle to belong within a family and within a culture, and how language unites and divides us. But his language is always a pleasure—vivid, inventive, and witty. On Earth as It Is in Heaven is an absorbing and deeply pleasurable collection."
—Margot Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vishwas R. Gaitonde's formative years were spent in India. He has lived in Britain and now resides in the United States. Distinctions include residencies in fiction at The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (Minnesota), scholarships to the Tin House and Sewanee writers’ conferences, and fellowships to The Summer Literary Seminar (Canada) and Hawthornden Castle Writers Residency (Scotland). He was a finalist for The Chautauqua Institution’s Janus Prize “for daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations.” His stories have appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Epiphany, Gargoyle, The Iowa Review, Kweli, The MacGuffin, and Santa Monica Review, among other places.