Mitali Perkins

Mitali Perkins is an Indian American writer of children's and young adult literature.

Mitali Bose Perkins
Occupation	Writer
Education	Stanford University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (MPP)
Genre	children's and young adult literature
Website
mitaliperkins.com

Early life

Mitali was born in Kolkata, India and moved to the United States when she was seven.^[1] As a child she lived in India, Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York City, and Mexico City.^[2]

Education

Mitali Perkins earned a BA in Political Science at Stanford University and a Masters of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.^[3]

Career

Perkins has taught middle school, high school, and college students.^[2] Perkins was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Saint Mary’s College of California.^[2] A film based on Perkins book, Rickshaw Girl, was produced in 2021. It was directed by Amitabh Reza Chowdhury.^[4]

Published works

• The Not So Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (1993)
• Monsoon Summer (2004)
• Rickshaw Girl (2007)^[5]
• Secret Keeper (2009)
• Bamboo People (2010)^[6]
• Tiger Boy (2015)
• You Bring the Distant Near (2017)^[7]
• Forward Me Back to You (2019)^[8]
• Between Us and Abuela (2019)^[9]
• Home Is in Between (2021)
• Steeped in Stories (2021 - non-fiction)

fiction)

• Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week (WaterBrook; 2022)
• Hope in the Valley (2023)
• Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas (WaterBrook; 2023)

Awards and recognition

• 2008 Jane Addams Children's Book Award for Rickshaw Girl^[10]
• 2011 YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults for Bamboo People^[11]
• 2016 South Asia Book Award for Tiger Boy.^[12]
• 2017 National Book Award Young People's Literature Longlist for You Bring the Distant Near^[13]
• 2018 Walter Honor Book, Teen Category for You Bring the Distant Near^[14]
• 2020 Rise, A Feminist Book Project recommended book, Forward Me Back to You^[15]
• 2020 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature for Between Us and Abuela^[16]