We were lucky to catch up with Puja Shah recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Puja , thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

For the years prior to my transition into a fiction author, I worked in healthcare with a large corporation and state government. It was almost opposite of the creative path I am on now! There were moments I had wished I had followed my gut instinct as a teenager as I always know I was a writer at heart, but did not have the courage to pursue it back then. As a first generation immigrant, I opted for the safer career option, but eventually learned you cannot escape who you are at your core. I think I needed to go through that journey to land where I am now. So in the end, it was all meant to be.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I always knew I was a writer. As an avid reader, I spent my teen years exploring New York City for poetry slams and book readings. Education was always important to my parents. And for me, writing has always been my passion. As a first-born child, passion was not something we spoke about in an immigrant family. There were 3 career tracks that my parents found worthy, the ones that got them (and immigrants like them) out of India and to America. These were to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

Ironically, while living in “the land of opportunity,” it was not easy for them to assimilate, to be treated with the same respect as Americans. They fell on their education as dentists as their lifeline to build a life for their extended family and children and to gain respect as foreigners. They led me to follow in their footsteps, the only ones they knew of. While I hold a graduate degree in dental medicine from Tufts University, I had filled my undergraduate courses at Adelphi University with creative writing, photography, women’s studies, and eastern philosophy. The blend of east and west has always fascinated me; it was who I was at my core. I was Indian but not born there. I was American, but not fully. After graduate school, my work in healthcare led me to nonprofit work in Uganda and in India, where I shifted my lens and knew I wanted to advocate for the girl child. I started a nonprofit with my husband, and in the end, I became an author for social change, even after a long career in public health.

My debut novel, For My Sister, is the fictional story of Amla and Asya, sixteen-year-old twins living with their family in a small village outside of Mumbai. While they look alike, they are very different. Asya is known for her quiet grace and understanding, whereas Amla questions authority and breaks rules.

Their lives change overnight when a confluence of unfortunate events brings them to the dark streets of India’s largest red-light district. Their only security is each other . . . until they are separated. Though they each discover ways to cope through poetry, art, and romance, they long for the other half of themselves. Will their lives ever intertwine again?

For My Sister has won The 2022 International Impact Book Award for Women’s Fiction, the 2022 American Writing Award for Social Change, the 2023 Literary Titan Book Award in Fiction and the 2023 Firebird Book Award in Women’s Social Issues.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

It was not easy to make a decision and shift careers after so many years, especially as a mother. But what got me to realize this and gain the courage to do it was meditation and yoga, the gifts of my culture. After a few yoga trainings when I moved to San Diego and many courses in meditation from all over, I gained the ability to quiet my mind and listen to my inner voice. I heard myself giving voice to causes that I believe in, that I know are important to shed light on. I knew I had to pursue my passion for writing and there was no turning back.

Certain books have helped me step into becoming the author I am today. While there have been many, here are some significant titles: The Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After completing my manuscript, I had to learn, from scratch, how to query agents and publishers for a book deal.

There were moments during multiple rejections that I almost gave up and thought to self publish, (another excellent option but I still wanted to try to get it published). At a writing conference I had gone to, I heard that J.K. Rowlings had many rejections before landing a publisher and authors like Toni Morrison published her first book at 40 years old. It gave me hope to continue on and believe in my book and myself as an author. I am so glad I didn’t give up, because eventually a publisher did give me a deal!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.puja-shah.com and www.formysisterbook.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psnamaste/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pujashahauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOT99rqUuz0
• Other: Guided meditations: https://open.spotify.com/album/2VPRSxq7SfqjXrMTOxdCDy

Image Credits
Headshots of Puja: Micaela Malmi Lowery