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Rashmi Bismark, MD, MPH is a mom, doctor, author, and eternal student of yoga.
Her specialty is Preventive Medicine, and she works with people to explore how meditation and mindfulness can support their whole health. She is interested in the supportive ways contemplative practices from all traditions can nurture healthy relationships and well-being. FINDING OM is her award-winning, picture book debut, illustrated by Morgan Huff and published by Mango and Marigold Press. It follows Dr. Bismark’s daughter, Anu, as she explores the mantra OM and meditation with the help of her beloved grandfather, Appuppa. Dr. Amitha Jagannath Knight is a graduate of MIT, and earned her medical degree at Tufts University. In 2012 she won the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award. While her parents were originally from South India, she and her siblings (including her identical twin!) were born in the United States. Dr. Knight has lived in Texas and Arkansas, and now lives in Massachusetts with her one husband, two children, and two cats.
Sana Rafi is a children’s book author who learned writing by writing…a lot! She started way back when she was less than ten years old, living in Lahore, Pakistan. She loved writing lengthy letters to penpals, voraciously reading whichever book I could get my hands on and submitting (and getting published!) to the only magazine for youth that I knew of: Us Magazine.Those early experiences led me to pursue a major in creative writing at my alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College located in a small Amish town in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t get enough and after graduating, I moved to New York City and took more writing courses at night after my work day was over. Soon after, I applied for MFA programs across the nation and enrolled at Columbia University for two blissful years of writing, reading and studying fiction and poetry.
Nadia Salomon lives in northern California with her family. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and Public Policy from Emerson College and has worked in television and print news.
She writes picture book, middle-grade, and graphic novel manuscripts with themes of South Asian and Caribbean culture, STEM, non-fiction, and humor. Nadia is the winner of the 2020 SCBWI Service Award and the 2019 SCBWI WOOP Honor Award for work of outstanding progress on her non-fiction, picture book manuscript, MYRLIE: A VOICE OF HOPE. Meera Sriram grew up in India and moved to the U.S in 1999. An electrical engineer in the past, she now enjoys writing for children, leading early literacy initiatives, and advocating for diverse bookshelves. Meera is the author of picture books, THE YELLOW SUITCASE, A GIFT FOR AMMA, and the upcoming titles, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS and DUMPLING DAY. She has also co-authored several kids’ books in India. Meera believes in the transformative power of stories and likes to write about people, places, and experiences less visible in children’s literature.
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