Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Shilpi Somaya Gowda is the award-winning, ''New York Times'' and internationally bestselling Canadian author of ''Secret Daughter, The Golden Son,'' and ''The Shape of Family.'' She lives in California with her family.

She was born in 1970 and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In college, she spent a summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel, ''Secret Daughter'', published in 2010. It was a ''New York Times'' and #1 international bestseller, and was translated into over 30 languages. ''Secret Daughter'' was shortlisted for the South African Boeke Literary Prize, longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, a ChaptersIndigo Heather's Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick.

Her second novel, ''The Golden Son'', was published in 2015-16 around the world, was a #1 international bestseller, a Target Book Club Pick, a Costco Buyer's Pick, and was awarded the French literary prize, ''Prix des Lyceens Folio''. Her first two novels have sold over two million copies worldwide, her third novel, ''The Shape of Family'', was published in October 2019 in Canada and March 2020 in the U.S. Her fourth novel. ''A Great Country,'' is scheduled for release on March 26, 2024. It is described as a "propulsive contemporary novel exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police." Provided by Wikipedia