Veena Rao

Veena Rao is an award-winning journalist and author. Her debut novel Purple Lotus is a 2021 Georgia Author of the Year finalist, a 2021 American Fiction Award winner, and an award-winning finalist in the multicultural and women’s fiction categories of the 2021 International Book Awards.

She is the founding editor of NRI Pulse, an Atlanta-based news publication.

When she is not writing or meeting press deadlines, you will find her meditating or photographing the flora and fauna on her wooded walk route.

If you like author Veena Rao here is the list of authors you may also like

Buy books on Amazon

Veena Rao similar authors

Archana Maniar

Archana Maniar is an infectious disease physician and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis. While she cares for patients during the day, by night, she can usually be found typing away on her laptop trying to free up the stories that have been floating around in her mind (usually with her cat Shadow napping by her side).

As a child, Archana bounced between states, countries, and continents, having lived on both coasts of the US as well as in Mumbai, India. Before studying medicine, she studied political theory and biology at UCLA. With a perspective forged by trying to find home in disparate parts of the world, her first novel, DRY SPELLS, was described by by Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of THE SKYLARK'S SECRET as
Buy books on Amazon
Eve J. Chung

Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American lawyer and women's human rights specialist. She has worked on a range of issues, including torture, sexual violence, contemporary forms of slavery, and discriminatory legislation. Her writing is inspired by social justice movements, and the continued struggle for equality and fundamental freedoms worldwide. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two children, and two dogs.
Buy books on Amazon
Rajasree Variyar

Rajasree Variyar grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in London, where she juggles writing alongside a career in digital insurance product development. She received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2020.

Her manuscript of The Daughters of Madurai was shortlisted for Hachette UK's 2019 Mo Siewcharran prize.

Her short stories have won second prize in the Shooter Literary Magazine short story competition and been long-listed for the Brick Lane Bookshop short story competition.
Buy books on Amazon
Alka Joshi

There comes a point in every daughter's life when she begins seeing her mother as a person separate from her family, someone who has an identity outside of motherhood. That was the moment I began re-imagining my mother's life, and that re-imagining became THE HENNA ARTIST. I was born in Rajasthan, India, and moved with my family to the U.S. when I was nine. Even after graduating from Stanford University, and working in advertising and marketing, I never considered becoming an author. But taking my mother to India in her later years changed all that. In 2011, I got my MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of Arts in San Francisco, California. It took 10 years, a lot of research, and many trips to India to complete my debut nove
Buy books on Amazon
Amita Trasi

Amita Trasi was born and raised in Mumbai, India. She has an MBA in Human Resource Management, and currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two cats. This is her first novel. Visit her website at www.amitatrasi.com

Buy books on Amazon
Sheila Flaherty

Sheila Flaherty is an Army brat who grew up to be a writer and clinical psychologist. She earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and has had a thriving private practice in the Chicago area, except for one year spent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While in Saudi, Sheila’s compassion led her to practice counseling secretly with American and Saudi women. This experience inspired her to write East of Mecca, a story about women within the confines of a violent, oppressive, male-dominated society. Sheila has placed in numerous screenwriting competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowship, Big Break, BlueCat, and Table Read my Script:London. East of Mecca was a Finalist in the 2018 Socially Relevant Film Festival
Buy books on Amazon
Rajasree Variyar

Rajasree Variyar grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in London, where she juggles writing alongside a career in digital insurance product development. She received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2020.

Her manuscript of The Daughters of Madurai was shortlisted for Hachette UK's 2019 Mo Siewcharran prize.

Her short stories have won second prize in the Shooter Literary Magazine short story competition and been long-listed for the Brick Lane Bookshop short story competition.
Buy books on Amazon
Nadia Hashimi

Reader, Mom, Pediatrician, Author, Advocate, Dog Walker (only my own, no solicitations please.)

Loves dark chocolate, coffee, and many other clichéd indulgences.

Buy books on Amazon
Mansi Shah

Born in Toronto to Indian immigrants, Mansi Shah is the author of A Good Indian Girl, The Taste of Ginger, and The Direction of the Wind, which center on Gujarati characters and speak to generational differences across the Indian diaspora. Now based in Los Angeles, Mansi left her long-time career as an entertainment attorney in Hollywood to travel the world and write full time. She loves to cook, and food often plays a prominent role in her books. When she's not writing and traveling, you can find her swimming laps or playing tennis.
Buy books on Amazon
Rebecca Musser

Rebecca Musser is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and agent for social revolution. She empowers women around the world to escape from bondage in all its forms, because as she has said, “I was once owned, too.”

Born into the FLDS, an extreme, isolated, polygamist sect of the Mormon faith, as a teenager she was forced in marriage to the 85-year-old prophet; destined to be his 19th wife of sixty-five. After enduring years of violation, upon her husband’s death she escaped from his son, Warren Jeffs, when he tried to force her to remarry. On behalf of her little sisters and other voiceless young girls trapped within that culture, Rebecca testified over 20 times against cult leaders to bring evidence to light, and freedom to her peopl
Buy books on Amazon
Shona Patel

Shona Patel, the daughter of an Assam tea planter, drew upon her personal observations and experiences to create the vivid characters and setting for her critically acclaimed debut novel TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY. Her second novel FLAME TREE ROAD was published in June 2015. An honors graduate in English literature from St. Xavier's College (Calcutta University) Ms. Patel has won several awards for creative writing and is a trained graphic designer.
Please visit her blog at www.shonapatel.com
Buy books on Amazon
Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Shilpi Somaya Gowda is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of four novels: Secret Daughter (2010), The Golden Son (2015), The Shape of Family (2020), and A Great Country (2024). Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages, been #1 international bestsellers in several countries and sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Shilpi was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She spent a college summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel and the transition from a business career to a becoming a writer: Secret Daughter was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, an Indigo Heather’s Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick. It was a finalist for the South A
Buy books on Amazon
Thrity Umrigar

A journalist for seventeen years, Thrity Umrigar has written for the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other national newspapers, and contributes regularly to the Boston Globe's book pages. Thrity is the winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary award and the Seth Rosenberg prize. She teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University. The author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood, she was a winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. She has a Ph.D. in English and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. (from the publisher's website)"
Buy books on Amazon
Amulya Malladi

Amulya Malladi is the bestselling author of eight novels, including The Copenhagen Affair, A House for Happy Mothers, and The Mango Season. Her books have been translated into several languages, including Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Romanian, Serbian, and Tamil. She won a screenwriting award for her work on Ø (Island), a Danish series that aired on Amazon Prime Global and Studio Canal+. Currently living in California, she is a Danish citizen who was born and raised in India.

amulyamalladi.com
facebook.com/authoramulya

Buy books on Amazon
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include the Indian experience, contemporary America, women, immigration, history, myth, and the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural world. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Japanese. Divakaruni also writes for children and young adults.Her novels One Amazing Thing, Oleander Girl, Sister of My Heart and Palace of Illusions are currently in the process of being made into movies. http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books.... Her ne
Buy books on Amazon
Joshilyn Jackson

Jackson's latest, MISSING SISTER, pubs MARCH, 3, 2026. Pre-order now!

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson writes both page-turning domestic suspense and Southern book club novels that revolve around timely women’s issues, raising questions about justice, motherhood, career, class, and the thorny mechanics of redemption. Her critically acclaimed work has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and Jackson is also an award-winning audiobook narrator. She lives in a gently haunted 150-year-old Victorian Rowhouse in upstate New York with her family.

A recent expat from the American South, she lives in a mildly haunted Victorian row house in upstate New York.

Buy books on Amazon
Thrity Umrigar

A journalist for seventeen years, Thrity Umrigar has written for the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other national newspapers, and contributes regularly to the Boston Globe's book pages. Thrity is the winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary award and the Seth Rosenberg prize. She teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University. The author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood, she was a winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. She has a Ph.D. in English and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. (from the publisher's website)"
Buy books on Amazon
Sheila Flaherty

Sheila Flaherty is an Army brat who grew up to be a writer and clinical psychologist. She earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and has had a thriving private practice in the Chicago area, except for one year spent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While in Saudi, Sheila’s compassion led her to practice counseling secretly with American and Saudi women. This experience inspired her to write East of Mecca, a story about women within the confines of a violent, oppressive, male-dominated society. Sheila has placed in numerous screenwriting competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowship, Big Break, BlueCat, and Table Read my Script:London. East of Mecca was a Finalist in the 2018 Socially Relevant Film Festival
Buy books on Amazon