Payal Doshi has a Master’s in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Having lived in the UK and US, she noticed a lack of Indian protagonists in global children’s fiction and one day wrote the opening paragraph to what would become her first children’s novel. She was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and four-year-old daughter. Her debut middle grade fantasy novel, Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is the recipient of the IPPY Gold Award. Her young adult short story will be published in the forthcoming YA Anthology, My Big, Fat, Desi Wedding by Page Street Kids.