Kalpana Swaminathan Biography and latest books by Kalpana Swaminathan

Kalpana Swaminathan is a surgeon and writer based in Mumbai, India. She has authored more than 12 novels, short stories and children’s books. She also occasionally writes in a pseudonym Kalpish Ratna along with fellow surgeon Ishrat Syed. They write on science, arts and literature. Kalpana Swaminathan has also bagged the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Award (Fiction) for Venus Crossing: Twelve Stories of Transit.

Critics have maintained that Kalpana Swaminathan brings the precision of her profession to her writing. Iin fact Kalpana had once stated, “I think all professions demand the same skills, and writing is as exacting as surgery. Like most people, I too carry the joys of one job into the other."

Kalpana deals with complex subjects in her novels. For instance her novel Bougainvillea House is a psychological thriller where she touches upon subjects like adultery, sex, and death. In fact, in her first novel, Ambrosia for Afters, she spoke about how emotionally demanding a natural process like growing up could be.

Kalpana personally finds writing for kids very rewarding. She had once said in an interview: There are no brakes. You’re writing for the most demanding and also the most indulgent readers — they will be prepared to make the most incredible leaps of faith, but they also will unerringly spot a false note.