Leela Soma is a Scottish-based writer who was born in Madras (former name for

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

) in India, and now lives in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Biography

Leela Soma came to Glasgow in 1969 with her husband. She worked, until her retirement, as a teacher of Modern Studies. During this time she took up creative writing under the tutelage of

Laura Marney Laura Marney is a Scottish novelist and short-story writer. Biography The author of five novels and numerous short stories, Laura Marney is a member of the Glasgow G7 group of writers (Alan Bissett, Nick Brookes, Rodge Glass, Laura Marney, Alison ...

. She followed this with Creative Writing Classes in the Department of Adult and Continuing Education at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Her work 2007 - 2016

She writes novels, poetry and short stories which have been published in a number of anthologies and publications, including

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

, The Grind, New Voices, and

Gutter magazine ''Gutter'' is a biannual periodical published in Scotland. The magazine was founded in 2009 and is independently published in Glasgow. The magazine is cooperatively owned and run by its workers. Overview Publishing prose, poetry and reviews, the ...

magazine. 'Twice Born' was published through

Youwriteon YouWriteOn was launched in January 2006 as an online writing circle to help new writers gain critical feedback on their work and improve their chances of getting published. Each month, YouWriteOn's top ten rated opening chapters receive feedback ...

an online publishing company.’ Her second novel ‘Bombay Baby’ was published by Dahlia Publishing Limited in 2011. ‘She was commissioned along with 20 other writers to write a story for

Glasgow Women's Library Glasgow Women's Library is a public library, registered company and charity based in the Bridgeton area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the only accredited museum dedicated to women's history and provides information relevant to women's culture a ...

anthology, ''21 Revolutions'', for its 21st birthday in 2013. Her story 'Boxed In' was inspired by three items from the collections "The Suffragette Movement" by

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with ...

; 'Traitors to the Masculine Cause: the Men's Campaign for Women's Rights by Sylvia Strauss and a copy of 'The Woman Worker' of 1908. She was part of ‘Butterfly Rammy,’ an

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

Show (2015) for which she was commissioned to write a short story. Her next work (2016) will be a crime novel set in Glasgow’s West End. She has served on the committee for the

Milngavie Milngavie ( ; gd, Muileann-Ghaidh) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngav ...

Books and Arts Festivals, and also on the Scottish Writer’s Centre Committee. Her work reflects her dual heritage of India and Scotland.

Awards

She won the Margaret Thomson Davis Trophy at Strathkelvin Writer’s Group for Best New Writer 2007 for her novel ‘Twice Born'.

Publications

*Twice Born published by You Write On 2007 *Bombay Baby published by Dahlia Publishing Limited 2011 *Boxed In published by The Pot Hole Press 2013 *Butterfly Rammy 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soma, Leela Scottish writers Scottish women writers Scottish women novelists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people