Neela Vaswani

Neela Vaswani is an American writer of Indian heritage. She was born in 1974 in Port Jefferson, New York, and received degrees from Skidmore College, Vermont College, and the University of Maryland.[1] She narrated the audio version of I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, and won a Grammy for this in 2015.[2][3] She is married to actor Holter Graham and lives in New York City. She is the founder of the Storylines Project, which she did with the New York Public Library.[4]

Books

  • Same Sun Here, co-authored with Silas House.[5]
  • Where the Long Grass Bends[6]
  • This is my Eye[7]
  • You Have Given Me a Country[4]

Reviews about her work

Deborah Stevenson, editor of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books at Johns Hopkins University Press, wrote: "While a few spreads digress less usefully, albeit playfully, it's that emphasis on varying perspectives that makes this valuable, since kids in all kinds of places will benefit from the prompt to reexamine their surroundings through fresh eyes."[8]

Maryn Wheeler of Brigham Young University wrote: "Vaswani easily captures the intricacy of perspectives in this vivid yet simple picture book. The first-person point of view draws the reader in and challenges them to see what she sees."[9]

Kirkus Reviews wrote: "While readers may be prompted to wonder how a photo series taken by an actual child photographer might have differed, Vaswani’s debut picture book is an elegant and playful look at perspective, photography, and a familiar (to many) cityscape."[7]

References

  1. ^ "Neela Vaswani '96 adds Grammy to list of recognitions". www.skidmore.edu. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  2. ^ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley. ""I Am Malala" Wins Grammy For Best Children's Album". Forbes. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  3. ^ "9 Artists Who Made India Proud by Winning Grammy Awards". The Better India. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "The Rumpus Interview With Neela Vaswani". The Rumpus.net. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  5. ^ "New book focuses on the work of Silas House". The Times-Tribune.com. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  6. ^ Kumar, Anu (13 January 2015). "After Jhumpa: Six books of Indian diaspora fiction". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  7. ^ a b THIS IS MY EYE | Kirkus Reviews.
  8. ^ Stevenson, Deborah (2018). "This Is My Eye: A New York Story by Neela Vaswani (review)". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 72 (1): 43. doi:10.1353/bcc.2018.0622. ISSN 1558-6766. S2CID 201740547.
  9. ^ Wheeler, Maryn. "This Is My Eye: A New York Story". Children's Book and Media Review. 40 (2). Retrieved 5 July 2024.