Darshana Khiani is an author, engineer, and advocate for South Asian children’s literature. She is infinitely curious about the world and enjoys sharing her findings with young readers. If she can make a child laugh even better. Her debut picture book, How to Wear a Sari (Versify), was an Amazon Editors’ Pick. She enjoys hiking, solving jigsaw puzzles, and traveling. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and a furry pup.
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I was born in Nairobi, Kenya and immigrated to the U.S. when I was a baby. I grew up in a small town in northeast Pennsylvania. I loved playing catch with my dad, riding my purple bike, ignoring my younger sister, performing Indian dances, reading Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown, playing with LEGOs, and visiting my extended family. My first published piece of writing was a haiku featured in the local newspaper at age eight.
During my middle-school and high-school years, I picked up skiing, softball, cheerleading, and cross-country running. When I was eleven, my sister and I travelled to India by ourselves and stayed the whole summer with our relatives. I loved feeling independent. In school, my favorite subjects were math and science. My hardest subject was English. However, the one bright spot was the creative writing lessons. I always did well on those. In high school, my notebooks had doodles and short poems in the margins.
I attended the University of Michigan and studied electrical engineering. In college, my exposure to South Asian culture broadened. I got involved in the Indian American Student Association and performed every year in their Diwali Cultural Show. Sadly, my leisure reading and creative writing became defunct due to workload. However, I was able to keep up with my travels. By the end of my 20’s, I had visited India, Kenya, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain.
I currently work as a computer engineer in a networking company. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband and two daughters. My younger sister is now one of my best friends. I have added the following countries to my travel log: Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Mexico. I am once again reading voraciously – everything from board books to adult books – and of course writing. When I’m not working or writing, I enjoy hiking, watching movies, volunteering, and hanging out with family and friends.
