Anuradha D. Rajurkar is the multi-award winning author of American Betiya (Knopf), named a Best Book by the American Library Association (YALSA), Bank Street, and many others, and is included as one of Cosmopolitan's 125 Best Young Adult Novels of All Time. Born and raised in the Chicago area to Indian immigrant parents, Anuradha earned two degrees from Northwestern University and for many years had the joy of being a public school teacher by day, writer by night. 

When she’s not writing, you can find Anuradha exploring the shores of Lake Michigan, reading by the fire, or roguishly knitting sweaters without their patterns. She hopes her stories inspire teens to embrace their unique identities and inner north star. Anuradha is currently editing her second upcoming novel, a gothic suspense entitled Temporary Bodies (Knopf, Date TBD). Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies  Onward: Climate Fiction Short Stories to Inspire Hope (Charlesbridge Press/Penguin Random House, 2026) and Home Has No Borders (HarperCollins, 2025). She currently lives in Chicago's north suburbs with her family, including its newest member: a sweet, highly opinionated rescue pup named Cleo.