Born in Jodhpur India, Alka and her family moved to the US when she was nine. She received her BA from Stanford University and her MFA from the California College of the Arts.
Inspired by her mother, Joshi began writing in 2010 while she worked in advertising and public relations. Her debut novel The Henna Artist was published in 2020 and became an instant New York Times best seller. It was the first in her Jaipur Trilogy, has been translated into more than 20 languages and is being made into a TV adaptation by Netflix.
Her most recent book Six Days in Bombay, published in April 2025, is a sweeping novel of identity and self-discovery that takes readers from Bombay to Prague, Paris, Florence, London and Istanbul to uncover the mystery behind a famous painter’s death.