Supriya Kelkar

Supriya is a celebrated writer, illustrator, and screenwriter from the Midwest. She watched three Hindi movies in a week when she was a little girl to master the language. Supriya was a member of the writing teams for various Hindi films, including Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Eklavya: The Royal Guard, India's entry for the 2007 Academy Awards, and she is the recipient of the New Visions Award for her internationally bestselling middle-grade novel AHIMSA (Tu Books, 2017). A few of Supriya's works are AHIMSA, The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh Harpreet Singh is a popular, talented, upcoming an >> Read More... (Sterling, 2019; illustrated by Alea Marley; the Michigan Great Read for 2021), and American as Paneer Pie (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2020), which was given a name in a School Library for Journal Best Book of 2020. Strong as fire, ferocious as a flame: a book honoring the 2022 Jane Addams Children's Book Award, Brown is beautiful (FSG, 2022; art by Noor Sofi; My Name (FSG, 2023; art by Sandhya Prabhat); THE COBRA'S SONG; Bindus Bindis (Sterling, 2021; illustrated by Parvati Pillai; 2022 Global Read Aloud Selection; and Read Across America selection; Tu Books, 2020); That Thing About Bollywood (Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2021; named a Parents Magazine Best (Simon & Schuster, 2023).

She is the author-illustrator of Shine and the illustrator of Jyoti Rajan Gopal's American Desi (Little, Brown, 2022) and Raakhee Mirchandani's My Diwali Light (Little, Brown, 2022). (Candlewick, 2024). For the rights to film and television, Supriya is represented by Kathleen Rushall at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and by Kim Yau at Echo Lake Entertainment. For her provocative YA book, Supriya Kelkar relied on her experience growing up as an Indian American in a tiny town in the United States. She discussed South Asian American society, microaggressions, and disguising her curls until she was in her thirties with Zibby. Award-winning author Supriya Kelkar creates a stunning ode to the word that best describes each of us—our name—with the help of lush illustrations by Sandhya Prabhat. She shows readers the beauty in embracing difference, taking pride in individuality, and encouraging others to do the same.