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Uma Krishnaswami is an Indian author of picture books and novels for children and is a writing teacher. She is "recognized as a major voice in the expanding of international and multicultural young adult fiction and children's literature."[1]

Uma Krishnaswami
Reading at the 2014 Gaithersburg Book Festival
Born	1956
Occupation	Writer, writing teacher
Period	1990s–present
Genre	Children's literature, picture books, non-fiction
Website
umakrishnaswami.org

Biography

Krishnaswami was born in 1956 in New Delhi, India. She received a degree in political science, and a master's degree in social work from the University of Delhi. [2] In 1979, she moved to the United States where she received an additional graduate degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.[3] [4] She then moved to Aztec, New Mexico where she lived for many years.[5] She now lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. [6]

Her first published story appeared in Children's World, a magazine published in India, when she was thirteen.[7] Her stories and poems have been published in Cricket, Highlights and Cicada.[1] Her award-winning books, which include middle grade novels, picture books, early readers, and non-fiction are published in English, Spanish, Hindi, Tamil and six other languages.[8][9]

In 2011 Krishnaswami appeared at the National Book Festival which is organized by the Library of Congress. [10]

Chachaji's Cup, one of Krishnaswami's picture books, was adapted into a musical and performed in several theaters in both New York City and California.[11] [12] [13]

Krishnaswami has taught writing to adults and children for years, and for over ten years she was the writer in residence at the Aztec Ruins National Monument.[14][15] She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and a nonresident member of The Children's Book Guild of Washington DC.[16] She also taught writing classes online through Writers on the Net.[17] She currently teaches in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.[18]

Awards

• 1997 Scientific American Young Readers Award for The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha[19]
• 2005 Notable Book For a Global Society (International Literacy Association) for Naming Maya[20]
• 2013 Crossword Book Award (Children's Literature) for Book Uncle and Me[21]
• 2011 Scholastic Asian Book Award for Book Uncle and Me[22]
• 2017-2018 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature for Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh[23]
• 2017 USBBY Outstanding International Books List for Book Uncle and Me[24]
• 2022 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List for Threads of Peace: How Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Changed the World[25][26]
• 2022 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List for Two at the Top: A Shared Dream of Everest[27][28]

Bibliography

Middle Grade and Chapter Books

• Threads of Peace: How Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Changed the World (2021)
• Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh (2017)
• Book Uncle and Me (2012, 2016)
• The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic (2013)
• The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (2011)
• Naming Maya (2004)

Picture books

• Two at the Top: A Shared Dream of Everest (2021)
• Bright Sky, Starry City (2015)
• The Girl of the Wish Garden: A Thumbelina Story (2013)
• Out of the Way! Out of the Way! (2010)
• Remembering Grandpa (2007)
• Bringing Asha Home (2006)
• The Closet Ghosts (2006)
• The Happiest Tree (2005)
• Monsoon (2003)
• Chachaji's Cup (2003)

Early readers

• Holi (2003)
• Hello Flower (2002)
• Yoga Class (2001)

Retold story collections

• The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha (2006, 1996)
• Shower of Gold: Girls and Women in the Stories of India (1999)
• Stories of the Flood (1994)

Short fiction

• "Chandra," in The Poetry of US published by National Geographic Kids (2018)
• "The Gift," in Period Pieces (2003)
• "Going to Kashi," in Soul Searching (2002)

Nonfiction

• Beyond the Field Trip : Teaching and Learning in Public Places (2002)
• No Joke! Humor and Culture in Middle-Grade Books in The Horn Book Magazine Family Reading (May/June 2012 issue)

Co-authored

• Many Windows : Six Kids, Five Faiths, One Community. Written with Rukhsana Khan and Elisa Lynn Carbone (2008)

See also

• List of Indian writers

References

External links

• Works by Uma Krishnaswami in libraries (WorldCat catalog) at http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2001-147500

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