Short bio (149 words):
Padma Venkatraman is the award-winning author of three critically
acclaimed novels. Her latest, A TIME TO DANCE (Nancy Paulsen
Books, Penguin) was released to 5 starred reviews (in Kirkus,
Booklist, SLJ, VOYA and BCCB) and received numerous awards:
ALA Notable, IRA NBGS, Kirkus Best Book, NYPL Top 25, IBBY
outstanding, etc. Her two earlier novels, ISLAND’S END and
CLIMBING THE STAIRS, were also released to three or more starred
reviews, were ALA Best Books, CCBC choices and Booklist Editor’s
Choice/Best Books and won several other honors and awards. She
has spoken at Harvard and other universities; participated on panels
at venues such as the PEN World Voices Festival; provided
commencement speeches at schools and keynote addresses at
numerous conferences; and has been the chief guest at international
literary festivals. Padma Venkatraman is American, has a doctorate in
oceanography and lives in Rhode Island. Visit her at
www.padmasbooks.com and www.padmasbooks.blogspot.com
Long bio (379 words):
Padma Venkatraman is the author of three award-winning, critically
acclaimed novels: A TIME TO DANCE, ISLAND’S END and
CLIMBING THE STAIRS. All three were released to three or more
starred reviews, were ALA/Yalsa Best Books and Booklist Editor’s
Choice/Best Books and have received several other honors and
awards.
Her latest, A TIME TO DANCE, was released in May 2014 by Nancy
Paulsen Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) to starred
reviews in 5 journals (Kirkus, Booklist, VOYA, BCCB and SLJ);
received glowing reviews in newspapers (such as the Denver Post,
Chicago Times, Newsday and Providence Journal); and accumulated
numerous awards and honors (e.g. an ALA Notable Book,
IndieBound selection; Kirkus Best Book; Booklist Top 10 art book for
youth; Booklist Editor’s Choice Best Book for Young Adults; New
York Public Library Top 25; Bookworm Central Top 40; Forever
Literary Top 10 Character Driven Books; International Board on
Books for Young People (IBBY) Outstanding Book for Young People
with Disabilities; International Reading Association (IRA) Notable
Books for a Global Society); ALA/YALSA BBYA.
Padma Venkatraman’s first two novels, CLIMBING THE STAIRS and
ISLAND’S END, were both released to multiple starred reviews and
won several honors and awards, such as the international South Asia
Book Award, the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe award, the
Paterson Prize, and the ASTAL Rhode Island Book of the year
award. Both books were American Library Association (ALA)/ Young
Adult Library Association (YALSA) Best Books for Young Adults
(BBYA), Booklist Editor’s Choice/Best Books of the Year, Cooperative
Children’s Book Center (CCBC) choices, and ALA/Amelia Bloomer
selections, in addition to winning numerous other awards and honors.
Padma Venkatraman is an American and lives in Rhode Island, USA,
with her family. She has participated on panels at Harvard and other
universities; was an invited guest at book festivals such as the
international PEN World Voices Festival; has provided
commencement speeches at schools and keynote addresses at
numerous conferences, including, most recently, at the Caribbean
Beach Pen Literary Festival in Trinidad, where she was the chief
guest. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally on
TV and radio.
Padma Venkatraman turned to writing after obtaining a doctorate in
oceanography at the College of William and Mary and conducting
post-doctoral research in Environmental Engineering at Johns
Hopkins University.