Rajdeep Paulus was born in India, but celebrated her third birthday in New York City. Paulus studied English Literature at Northwestern University, and now lives in Long Island with her husband and four daughters. Her online meanderings on Social Media can be found at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Tumblr, Pinterest, Amazon, and her website, rajdeeppaulus.com. Her first self-published novel, Swimming Through Clouds, won several awards in the (NO-RWA, WOF, Wisconsin RWA) Young Adult Fiction category in 2012 and received an Indie B.R.A.G. medallion in 2014.

USA Today said of the Swimming Through Clouds trilogy:

“This series should be on the shelves of every American high school … that it might open doors for discussion that could effect change and give hope.” ~ USAToday.com, April 2015

An Editor at Amazon interviewed Rajdeep on her publishing journey, featuring the story on Amazon’s Homepage for the month of February, 2015. Describing Swimming Through Clouds, editor David Quigg wrote:

“Swimming Through Clouds is a tough book. It’s about hope and kindness, but it’s also about child abuse, human-trafficking, domestic violence, and the isolation that can be part of immigrant life. Despair and cruelty haunt its pages. Raj’s most heroic characters find the strength to be compassionate at moments when it would be much easier to stand by and do nothing.” ~ AMAZON, February 2015

Paulus also won several short story contests, and her story “The Color of Tomorrow” was a “Most Highly Commended” winner in 2012. The judges commented:

“ ‘The Color of Tomorrow’ is an engaging, ethnic story that takes us to India and two young girls who decide to better their lives by applying for jobs in the US. To grab the average American reader’s interest in what would be regarded as a foreign story, it’s necessary to emphasize not only how similar are the emotions and aspirations of the main characters, but how dissimilar as well… Rajdeep Paulus rises to the task magnificently, partly by using a first-person narrator to take us to the heart of her emotions, partly by the novelty yet believability of the plot with its remarkably credible observations, and partly by the sheer skill of her selectivity. It’s a balancing act that she brings off perfectly.”

~John H. Reid Short Story Contest, 2012

Rajdeep was invited to join a number of Young Adult Book Festivals, both as an author and panelist, including YAFest (in Easton, PA) and NYC Teen Author Fest. She has also participated in South Asian book events including Kriti (in Chicago) and Indo-American Arts Council Literary Festival two years in a row, featured on panels as a debut author, a YA author, and a successfully self-published author. Most recently, she spoke at Rockland County Community College at their Children’s Authors Festival celebrating Diversity in fiction with the We Need Diverse Books Team.

Rajdeep has taught a number of writing seminars at local schools and libraries, visited middle and high schools on Author Day or Literary Days, and spoken to a number of Book Clubs in Long Island, Queens, Atlanta, and Chicago to discuss her books with readers. She also guest blogs for various on-line publications including Brown Girl Magazine, MasalaMommas, Nomi Network, To Love-Honor-and Vacuum, and Go Teen Writers.

CONTACT INFO: rkpaulus@gmail.com

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