Shilpi Somaya Gowda is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of four novels: Secret Daughter (2010), The Golden Son (2015), The Shape of Family (2020), and A Great Country (2024). Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages, been #1 international bestsellers in several countries and sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Shilpi was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She spent a college summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel and the transition from a business career to a becoming a writer: Secret Daughter was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, a ChaptersIndigo Heather’s Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick. It was a finalist for the South African Boeke Literary Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It is in production with Amazon Studios to be a feature film, starring Priyanka Chopra and Sienna Miller. The Golden Son was also a Target Book Club Pick, a Costco Buyer’s Pick, and was awarded the French literary prize, Prix des Lyceens Folio. The Shape of Family was an international and American bestseller. Her latest novel, A Great Country, became an instant #1 international bestseller, has been named a top book of the year by over 25 publications, is a Costco and Indigo pick, and earned a starred review from Publishers’ Weekly. It has also been longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the New American Voices Award.

Shilpi holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Defense Fund, and is a Patron of Childhaven International, the organization for which she volunteered in India. She lives in California.

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