ABOUT VANITHA
​
​​​​​​​​​​​​Throughout my childhood, I had the grace (and sometimes misfortune) to move all over the country. My family are avid travelers, and if we were not exploring new attractions all over the US, we were traveling to India and adjacent places. Everywhere we went, I was always reading.
​
As an adult I continued the tradition of traveling and reading, sometimes blending the two. My collection of myths and folklore spans the slight legends of rural towns to full blown religious tales and cultural touchstones. As a species, we rely on stories for so many things, from keeping to history to keeping faith that we are not alone in this world.
​
​Over the last many years, I have started to focus not only on the similarities of stories told around the world but also on the many varied differences! I primarily write historical fiction, both because of my love of travel but also because I thrill to research new topics. Not surprising since by day I work as a medical strategist in healthcare communications. By night, my husband and I care for our greyhounds, who should be my muses but decidedly are not.
I served on the Board of the Historical Novel Society of North America (HNSNA) for ten years and currently serve as an award co-coordinator for my chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). I am also a proud member of the Paper Lantern Writers, an author collective focused on historical fiction of all eras. I have a BS in Optical Engineering from the University of Arizona, an MS and PhD from Northwestern, and an MFA from Antioch.
​
Clearly, I love to research and study and am thrilled to bring all of that to my writing!