Shilpi Somaya Gowda is the award-winning, New York Times and internationally bestselling Canadian author of Secret Daughter, The Golden Son, and The Shape of Family. She lives in California with her family.
She was born in 1970 and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In college, she spent a summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel, Secret Daughter, published in 2010. It was a New York Times and #1 international bestseller, and was translated into over 30 languages. Secret Daughter was shortlisted for the South African Boeke Literary Prize, longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, a ChaptersIndigo Heather's Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick.[1]
Her second novel, The Golden Son, was published in 2015-16 around the world, was a #1 international bestseller, a Target Book Club Pick, a Costco Buyer's Pick, and was awarded the French literary prize, Prix des Lyceens Folio. Her first two novels have sold over two million copies worldwide, her third novel, The Shape of Family, was published in October 2019 in Canada and March 2020 in the U.S.[2] Her fourth novel. A Great Country, is scheduled for release on March 26, 2024. It is described as a "propulsive contemporary novel exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police."
Gowda holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar.[3] She has served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Defense Fund, and is a Patron of Childhaven International, the organization for which she volunteered in India.[4]
Gowda's debut novel was published by HarperCollins/William Morrow in 2010 and became a New York Times bestseller and a #1 international bestseller. It was translated into more than 30 languages and became a bestseller in several foreign countries, in addition to the US and Canada. The story was inspired by Gowda's experience volunteering at an orphanage in India during a summer in college, and explores the repercussions of female infanticide that is prevalent in many parts of Asia. It features a girl born in an Indian village, unwanted because of her gender, who is later adopted by a professional couple in California. The novel traces the lives of the girl, both her biological and her adoptive families over two decades.
The Washington Post said of the novel, A nuanced coming-of-age story that is faithful to the economic and emotional realities of two very different cultures. ... As the author moves among the perspectives of her various characters, she gives full weight to the humanity of each and views the problems of poverty and affluence with equal empathy. ... Gowda doesn't neaten up the messy complications of family life as she warmly affirms the power of love to help people grow and change.
Secret Daughter was shortlisted for the South African Boeke Literary Prize, longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, a ChaptersIndigo Heather's Pick, an Amazon Customer Favorite & Editor's Choice of 2010, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick. The novel was the #1 Bestselling Book of 2010 in Canada, and the #2 Bestselling Canadian book of the decade (2010-19).
Gowda's second novel was published in 2015-16 around the world, and it too became a #1 international bestseller. The story features two childhood friends who grow up in the same village in India, but whose paths diverge when Anil goes to America to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor, while Leena moves to a neighboring village to have an arranged marriage.
Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Belong to Me and The Precious One, commented on The Golden Son, saying, Shilpi Somaya Gowda "is as adept at crafting disparate, fully realized worlds—a village in India, a medical school in Texas—as she is at creating compelling characters. I ached and cheered for Leena and Anil, as they struggle to live lives of their own choosing amidst the demands of tradition and the sometimes beautiful, sometimes painful bonds of family."
The Golden Son was the winner of the French literary prize Prix des Lyceens Folio, #1 on the Canadian Fiction bestseller list in both of Canada's national newspapers (Globe & Mail and Toronto Star), a Target Book Club Pick for December 2016, a Costco Canada Buyers’ Pick, and on the USA Today bestseller list.
Gowda's third novel was published in October 2019, again by HarperCollins/William Morrow. The Shape of Family was listed as a "Most Anticipated Book" by CBC Books, Chatelaine Magazine, ChaptersIndigo, Philadelphia Inquirer, Library Journal and Vancouver Public Library. "The Golden Son" has been named an International Bestseller, LA Times Bestseller, Target Recommends Pick, and Best Book by: USA Today, NY Post, CBC, ChaptersIndigo, Ms. Magazine, and Library Journal.
A Great Country
Gowda's fourth novel, "A Great Country," was released on March 26, 2024. In it, Gowda explores immigration, class tensions and generational conflict. The story follows the Shahs, a close-knit Indian American family adjusting to their new life in Pacific Hills, a fictional, affluent neighborhood in Southern California.
