About
Lini S. Kadaba is a national award-winning journalist who spent nearly 25 years working as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. Since 2010, she has worked as a freelance lifestyle, education, business and health writer. Her work continues to appear in the Inquirer as well as the Saturday Evening Post and numerous college publications, including the Pennsylvania Gazette, Drexel University's EXEL and Haverford Magazine.
Lini is a master's graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a former president and current treasurer of the Pennsylvania Press Club. Her debut novel, "Leftovers After Life," is due May 29, 2026, from Blydyn Square Books (Kenilworth, N.J.). Preorder at Bookshop.org or Amazon.
Featured Work
"Leftovers After Life"
When Neena’s mother utters her final, shocking word before slipping into silence forever, Neena is left reeling. The two had a fraught relationship, but the venom of that parting shot shakes Neena to her core. Now, faced with the daunting task of cleaning out her parents’ Philly-area condo, Neena begins to sift through boxes of belongings, each item stirring memories and long-buried tensions.
As she wades through dresses, documents, and dusty relics of her suburban Georgia childhood, Neena is forced to confront not just her fractured bond with her mother—and a family secret—but the ways history repeats itself.
Lyrical, layered, and unflinchingly honest, the literary fiction book "Leftovers After Life" explores how we reckon with the past to reclaim the present. In uncovering what’s been packed away—physically and emotionally—Neena must decide what to keep, what to discard, and whether it’s ever really possible to make peace with the ones who raised us.
