Hi! I’m Mahtab Narsimhan, and I write stories for kids and teens—picture books, middle-grade adventures, and hi-lo YA.
I grew up in Mumbai, India, where I spent school recess hiding in cozy corners at J.B. Petit High School for Girls, reading with my best bookish friends: Lucy Pevensie, Charlie Bucket, and Pippi Longstocking. After a Commerce degree from the University of Bombay, I tried a bunch of grown-up jobs: hotel management at the Oberoi School in Delhi (and Oberoi Towers in Mumbai), the credit-card world, and later IT recruiting when I moved to Canada. It felt like swimming in alphabet soup! I wanted to give up more than once, but hard work and stubborn hope kept me going.
In 2004 I opened a diary to write about home, and it turned into my first novel, The Third Eye, and the start of the Tara Trilogy.
Rejections? So many.
My survival kit: a positive attitude and chocolate.
In 2007 the book was finally published, and in 2009 it won the Silver Birch Fiction Award. Since then I’ve kept learning and writing and guest-hosted the Writing Excuses podcast with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Mary Robinette Kowal. Many of my books have landed on prestigious book award lists and two of my hi-lo novels received the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection.
Today I live in beautiful British Columbia, where I’m learning to conquer my fear of heights as I hike up some of the most challenging trails. I love visiting schools and libraries to talk about stories, culture, and courage. Kids: bring your questions—I’ll bring story seeds (and chocolate…maybe).