Published by Allen and Unwin, it follows the life journey of Latika Bourke, a young woman well-known in the Bathurst community as the daughter of a large local family, a school friend to many and a familiar voice on the local radio station. 

Through the release of her book, however, her name is becoming known in a far wider community. 

Latika will be back in Bathurst tonight at the Bathurst Community Club from 6.30pm to speak about her journey.

She said the process of writing her book had been exciting, but also a bit of a rollercoaster.

Growing up in a country town like Bathurst gives you more of a down-to-earth outlook, Latika said, especially when you are from a big family.

“One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my family was ‘take what you do seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously’,” Latika said.

One of eight children, Latika’s family arrived in Bathurst shortly after her adoption. 

The Bourkes lived at Hobby’s Yards, then moved to Forest Grove when Latika was seven.

She attended primary school at the Cathedral School, went on to MacKillop College, and studied communications at Charles Sturt University.

In her second year at CSU, Latika began working at radio station 2BS. She said she would always be grateful to station owner Ron Camplin and general manager Phil Cole for helping her break into media.

Her parents Penny and John now live in Sydney, but she still has siblings in Bathurst. 

Latika said she had never imagined herself as someone who would write a book but said nearly all the Bourke children picked up on their mother’s love of reading. 

However, this fondness for books was balanced by lots of football and cricket in the back yard. 

Latika was adopted from an orphanage in India at the age of eight months to become one of three adopted and five biological children who made up the Bourke family.

It wasn’t until she heard her name in the film Slumdog Millionaire that she made the decision to trace her roots.

“I know it sounds like the biggest clichè around, but that movie was the start of a lifelong journey for me,” she said.

Latika said one of the main reasons she wanted to write the book was because there were a lot of stories about when adoptions go wrong.

“I feel my family’s story is one of what happens when they go right,” she said.

“I had parents who wanted me and carved out a place for me.

“There is no other life I would want than the one I have.”

She said From India With Love was a bit of a journey book starting out in childhood through her rise in the media to the Canberra Press Gallery where she now works for Fairfax Media.

Once she decided to undertake this enormous step, she travelled to India where she visited the orphanage she was placed in as a baby and met the nuns who work there. 

“It was a really meaningful experience. India is place of deep meaning for me,” Latika said.

“I found a country that was incredible in so many ways. I felt for the first time it was a part of me as well. 

“I thought, ‘I am from here’.

“I have been back to India three times now and want to go back every year. There is so much to explore and do. 

“The fears I had on my first trip are not there anymore. It is layered with meaning for me. 

“It is very, very personal each time.”

Latika is donating half the royalties from her book From India with Love to the orphanage.