Anjali Banerjee:

Mum holding me.

Anjali Banerjee was born in India, raised in Canada and California and received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. When she was seven, she wrote her first story about an abandoned puppy on a beach in Bengal.

The Philadelphia Inquirer called her debut young adult novel, Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House) “beautiful and complex” and “pleasingly accessible.” The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books called the book “eloquently composed” and “insightfully written.” Maya Running was on the Chicago Public Library’s ”Best of the Best” list of children’s novels published in 2005 and the New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age 2006” list. Penguin Books India published Maya Running on the Indian subcontinent and in Singapore. India Today Book Club, India’s biggest book club, chose Maya Running as a “Pick of the Season,” and the novel received accolades in major Indian publications, including INDOlink, The Hindustan Times and Deccan Chronicle. Film rights for Maya Running were sold to Intrepid Film Arts Inc. and MediaBrat Inc.

Horn Book Magazine called Anjali’s second novel for children, Looking for Bapu (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House) ”a moving story about surviving an unexpected, shocking loss;” Booklist called the book “imaginative,” “hilarious” and “an excellent read aloud”; and The Philadelphia Inquirer called it “sophisticated and very likable.” Of the many elements in the novel–generational differences, friendship, religion, and grief immediately post-9/11—Mary Harris Russell of The Chicago Tribune wrote, “Banerjee deftly keeps all this in balance. We never lose sight of either the serious issues—the family’s loss and love—or the comedic ones.” King County Library System chose Looking for Bapu as one of the Best Books of 2006; Seattle Public Library included the book on its “2006 Books for Giving” list. Looking for Bapu was also nominated for two state library awards: Hawaii’s 2008 Nene Award, and Washington State’s 2009 Sasquatch Reading Award. Looking for Bapu was on the 2009 Global Reading Challenge lists for the Seattle Public Library, the King County Library System, the Fraser Valley Regional Library System (in British Columbia, Canada), and the Kalamazoo Public Library System in Michigan. Looking for Bapu is also on the Hong Kong 2009-2010 Battle of the Books reading list. The paperback was released in September 2008.

Anjali is also the author of two middle grade paperbacks published by Mirrorstone Books: The Silver Spell and Rani and the Fashion Divas. Her next middle grade novel, Seaglass Summer, will be released by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House May 11, 2010.

Anjali’s first novel for adults, Imaginary Men (Downtown Press/Pocket Books) was chosen as a Book Sense Notable Book. The Seattle Times called Imaginary Men “a romantic comedy equal to Bend it Like Beckham”; Booklist called it “charming” and “fairytale-like”; Publishers Weekly called it a “fun debut...a Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Monsoon Wedding-style escapade.” RT BOOKreviews magazine called Anjali’s second novel for adults, Invisible Lives, “magical” and “joyful,” and The Seattle Times called it “poignant” and “surprising.” Droemer-Knaur released Invisible Lives in Germany as Der Hochzeitssari (The Wedding Sari) in early 2009, and will release Imaginary Men as Die Herzleserin in early 2010. Anjali’s next women’s fiction novel will be published by the Penguin Group. Stay tuned for more details.

Anjali’s Pushcart Prize-nominated short fiction has appeared in several literary journals including Writing for Our Lives (twice), Lynx Eye (twice), Möbius: The Journal of Social Change, Nerve, Elements and the University of Baltimore’s Passager: A Journal of Remembrance and Discovery, and in the anthology New to North America: Writing by Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren. Her short story “Satin and Lace” is used as a model story in Skagit Valley College classes and in workshops at the Whidbey Island Writers’ Conference; and “Goddess of Learning” and Anjali’s novel, Imaginary Men, are assigned reading in California college classes.

An alumnus of Hedgebrook, which is an esteemed retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Anjali has been a speaker at the South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF®) at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., many schools and libraries, and has led workshops for Field’s End, a Bainbridge Island, Washington-based writers’ community offering classes taught by award-winning authors. She was a contributing writer for three regional history books and local newspapers. Anjali lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four crazy cats. #

When I was two months old we immigrated to Canada. My father had a full scholarship to study for his doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo. My mother obtained her master's degree in physics from the University of Manitoba and later her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

I grew up in Pinawa, Manitoba, an idyllic town on the shores of the Winnipeg River. As a kid I spent summers running around outside, playing hide and seek, kick the can, hopscotch and dodge ball. In winter we made snowmen and igloos, tobogganed down a steep quarry called Yo-Yo Hill, and went cross country skiing through pine forests and apple orchards. Oh, and my parents made me go to school and take ballet, figure skating, swimming and piano lessons.

Nita and I in India in Puri, on the Bay of Bengal. Nita is wearing the fisherman’s cap.

My favorite family event was the weekly drive to the garbage dump to watch for bears. I also loved our jaunts to the town library, where I checked out the same Curious George books a million times. I adored a picture book called The Bear Who Couldn't Sleep, starring a baby bear who refused to hibernate in winter. My favorite authors were Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Alexander Key, C.S. Lewis and others. Every night my father read to me from C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia or Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

When I was four we adopted my little sister, Nita. Born in Flin Flon, Manitoba, she is a Native Canadian of Cree origin. Yes, there really is a place called Flin Flon.

At the age of seven I wrote my first story about an abandoned puppy I found on a beach in Bengal. I've always loved animals and longed to rescue every stray creature that crossed my path.

Whitely and I in our front yard in Pinawa, Manitoba.

My beloved dog, Whitely, was half Samoyed, half Husky — the quintessential Canadian dog.

One day Whitely followed me to school and bit a little girl, so we had to send him to a farm. No, he didn't die. He really lived on a farm, where he got to run through meadows and chase butterflies and mice. I wrote a story about him.

Then, inspired by my maternal grandmother -- an English writer who lived in India -- I wrote a mystery, The Green Secret at the age of nine. I illustrated the book, stapled the pages together and pasted a copyright notice inside the front cover. After that I churned out a series of mysteries and adventure novels with preposterous premises and impossible plots.

Then I put them away in a box and grew up.

My dad and I at my U.C. Berkeley graduation.

When my father landed a professorship at the University of California, we made our way to sunny Santa Barbara. I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in anthropology and psychology.

I tried on jobs like new sets of clothes — veterinary assistant, office manager and law student — and then rediscovered my love for writing fiction. My first short story appeared in Nerve, and other stories followed in several literary journals including The Green Hills Literary Lantern, Möbius: The Journal of Social Change, the University of Baltimore's Passager: A Journal of Remembrance and Discovery, Lynx Eye and Writing for Our Lives.

"Ordinary Children" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won Honorable Mention in Lynx Eye's Captivating Beginnings contest. "Goddess of Learning" appeared in the anthology New to North America: Writing by Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren and is assigned reading in college classes. "Satin and Lace" is used as a model story at the Whidbey Island Writers Conference and in Skagit Valley College classes on Whidbey Island, in Washington state. A contributing writer for three regional history books, I've also penned dozens of articles for Puget Sound newspapers.

My husband, Joseph, and I.

Wendy Lamb Books/Random House published my first middle grade/YA novel, Maya Running, in early 2005, and my second children’s novel, Looking for Bapu in October 2006. The paperback will be available September 9, 2008. Pocket Books/Downtown Press released my first novel for adults, Imaginary Men, in late 2005, and my second novel for adults, Invisible Lives, in September 2006. I’ve written two more novels for children, The Silver Spell and Rani and the Fashion Divas, both published by Mirrorstone Books/Wizards of the Coast. I’m at work on a third children’s novel for Wendy Lamb Books/Random House. The book is tentatively titled The Furball Diaries and should be released in 2009. I’m a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

My husband, Joseph Machcinski, was once a Boatswain’s Mate on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson. He’s now a landscaper, nurseryman and avid Master Gardener. We live in the Pacific Northwest with three crazy cats and a black rabbit named Friday.

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A hit-and-run driver killed Monet on the night of June 12, 2009. We are heartbroken, absolutely grief-stricken. He was a strong, free spirit. Monet will always be our baby.

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