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KEYNOTE: CREATING SOLIDARITY IN SOUTH ASIAN KIDLIT with Rajani LaRocca and Payal Doshi
Payal Doshi has a Masters in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Having lived in the UK and US, she noticed a lack of Indian protagonists in global children’s fiction and one day wrote the opening paragraph to what would become her first children’s novel. She was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and two-year-old daughter. When she isn’t writing or spending time with her family, you can find her nose deep in a book with a cup of coffee or daydreaming of fantasy realms to send her characters off into. She loves the smell of old, yellowed books. Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, the first book in The Chronicles of Astranthia series is her debut middle grade novel.
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Rajani LaRocca is a book lover, doctor, and foodie who was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area. Her debut middle grade novel, Midsummer’s Mayhem (Yellow Jacket), is an Indian-American mashup of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and competitive baking. Her debut picture book, Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math is set in ancient India and introduces the basics of binary numbers. Learn more about her at www.RajaniLaRocca.com and on Twitter and Instagram @rajanilarocca.
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SOUTH ASIAN STORIES OF HOPE AND COURAGE with Saadia Faruqi, Rukhsanna Guidroz, Anita Amin, and Shanthi Sekaran
Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist and interfaith activist. She writes the children’s early reader series “Yasmin” published by Capstone and other books for children, including middle grade novels “A Place At The Table” (HMH/Clarion 2020) co-written with Laura Shovan, and “A Thousand Questions” (Harper Collins 2020). She resides in Houston, TX with her husband and children.
Anita Nahta Amin is the author of leveled readers and chapter books for the education market. Her debut picture book, RAJA’S PET CAMEL: THE MAGIC OF HOPE (Cardinal Rule Press, illustrated byParwinder Singh) released October 2020. A former IT business consultant, she lives with her husband and twin children in Florida, where she can be found walking on the beach or cycling down the trail.
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Rukhsanna Guidroz is the author of award-winning picture books Mina vs. The Monsoon and Leila in Saffron. Her debut middle-grade novel in verse Samira Surfs came out this June. Rukhsanna juggles multiple cultures; she was born in England, and her parents are Indian and Chinese. These days, when she's not teaching, you'll find her riding waves with her husband and two sons.
Shanthi Sekaran is a novelist and television writer who lives in Berkeley, California. The Samosa Rebellion, her first middle grade book, was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for young readers. When she’s not writing, she plays soccer and the ukulele. She has two kids and a cat named Frog. You can find out more about her at www.shanthisekaran.com.
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EXPANDING SOUTH ASIAN NARRATIVES with Adiba Jaigirdar, Priyanka Taslim, Naz Kutub, and Aamna Qureshi
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Shanthi Sekaran Priyanka Taslim is a writer, teacher, and lifelong New Jersey resident. Having grown up in a bustling Bangladeshi diaspora community, surrounded by her mother’s entire clan and many aunties of no relation, her writing often features families, communities, and all the drama therein. Her debut young adult novel, THE LOVE MATCH, is releasing from Salaam Reads, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in 2022.
Aamna Quershi is a Pakistani, Muslim American who adores words. She grew up in a very loud household, surrounded by English (for school), Urdu (for conversation), and Punjabi (for emotion). Through her writing, she wishes to inspire a love for the beautiful country and rich culture that informed much of her identity. She currently lives in New York.
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DECOLONIZING THE IMAGINATION with Swati Avasthi, Karuna Riazi, and Meera Sriram
Swati Avasthi has been writing fiction since she read Little House in the Big Woods at age five. Emily Bronte, Harper Lee, and others furthered her addiction. She institutionalized her habit at the University of Chicago, where she received her B.A., and at the University of Minnesota, where received her M.F.A. Her writing has received numerous honors including a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, the Thomas H. Shevlin Fellowship, Loft's Mentor Series Award, and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize. She is a creative writing professor at Hamline University and lives in the Twin Cities with her two large-ish dogs, two small-ish kids, and one husband (though he is worth two).
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MENTOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT for Saadia Faruqi, Sheba Karim
Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist and interfaith activist. She writes the children’s early reader series “Yasmin” published by Capstone and other books for children, including middle grade novels “A Place At The Table” (HMH/Clarion 2020) co-written with Laura Shovan, and “A Thousand Questions” (Harper Collins 2020). She resides in Houston, TX with her husband and children.
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Sheba Karim is the author of the YA novels Skunk Girl, That Thing We Call a Heart, which made several Best Book lists including Bank Street and Kirkus, and Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, which was named a NPR Best Book of the Year, and The Marvelous Mirza Girls (May 2021). She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University.
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CREATING SOLIDARITY IN SOUTH ASIAN KIDLIT Closing Conversations with Anuradha Rajurkar, Gayatri Sethi
Anuradha D. Rajurkar is the national recipient of the SCBWI Emerging Voices Award for her contemporary debut novel, American Betiya. Born and raised in the Chicago area to Indian immigrant parents, Anuradha earned two degrees from Northwestern University, and for many years had the joy of being a public school teacher by day, writer by night.
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Gayatri Sethi teaches and writes about social justice, global studies, and comparative education. Born in Tanzania and raised in Botswana, she is of South Asian Punjabi descent, multilingual, and polycultural. She reflects on these lifelong experiences of identity, immigration, and belonging in her debut book titled Unbelonging. When she is not homeschooling or recommending readings as Desi Book Aunty, she travels the globe with her students and family.
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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE BIOS for Gayatri Sethi, Saadia Faruqi, Sailaja Joshi, Payal Doshi, Nadia Salomon, Rashmi Bismark MD, MPH, Navdeep Singh Dhillon, Adiba Jaigirdar, Swati Avasthi
All Materials © 2021 Desi Kid Lit Community Website by Nadia Salomon