Veera Hiranandani is an American writer of children's books. Her 2018 novel, ''

The Night Diary ''The Night Diary'' is a young adult novel written by American writer Veera Hiranandani and published by Penguin Random House in 2018. It is set in 1947, during the months before and after the independence of India and subsequent division with ...

,'' received a Newbery Honor in 2019. Her novel ''How to Find What You're Not Looking For'' won the 2022

Jane Addams Children's Book Award The Jane Addams Children's Book Award is given annually to a children's book published the preceding year that advances the causes of peace and social equality. The awards have been presented annually since 1953. They were previously given joint ...

Life and work

Hiranandani, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a father who was originally from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, was raised in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. She attended

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, and later studied fiction writing at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

. Her first book, ''The Whole Story of Half a Girl'', was published in 2012. It would become a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asian Book Award Finalist Hiranandani's next novel, ''

'', is set against the background of the 1947

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. She stated that this book was partly inspired by the experiences of her father, who was nine at the time of the Partition, and fled his home with his family. The book was named one of two Newbery Honor titles in 2019. Hiranandani lives and works in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state.

References

21st-century American novelists Newbery Honor winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) American women novelists 21st-century American women writers American writers of Indian descent George Washington University alumni Sarah Lawrence College alumni Novelists from Connecticut {{US-novelist-stub