Padma Venkatraman

Padma Venkatraman is the internationally acclaimed author of Safe Harbor, Born Behind Bars, The Bridge Home (a Global Read Aloud), A Time to Dance, Climbing the Stairs and Island’s End, which have secured over 20 starred reviews and sold over ¼ million copies. She is the winner of WNDB’s Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature and numerous other prestigious awards. Her books have been featured in the New York Times and Washington Post; included on ALA’s notable and several other best book of the year lists; and received book prize honors from Canada to Spain to Japan. Her poems have been published in Poetry and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A sought-after speaker, she has presented the opening keynote address at the NCTE-ALAN conference and other teacher, librarian and writer conferences and appeared on PBS and NPR. She loves leading writing workshops and has visited schools and colleges and spoken to audiences of all ages in many countries including Mongolia, Trinidad and India, where she was born and which she left, on her own, at age 19. Before becoming an American citizen and acquiring a doctorate in oceanography Dr. Venkatraman directed a school in England, served as chief scientist on oceanographic vessels, conducted research in environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins and the College of William and Mary, and led diversity efforts. Discover more: [www.padmavenkatraman.com](https://www.padmavenkatraman.com) ; visit [www.diverseverse.org](https://www.diverseverse.org) (which she founded) or arrange a visit: https://theauthorvillage.com/presenters/padma-venkatraman/.