Shilpi Somaya Gowda is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of four novels: Secret Daughter (2010), The Golden Son (2015), The Shape of Family (2020), and A Great Country (2024). Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages, been #1 international bestsellers in several countries and sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Shilpi was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She spent a college summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel and the transition from a business career to a becoming a writer: Secret Daughter was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, an Indigo Heather’s Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick. It was a finalist for the South African Boeke Literary Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It has also been optioned to be a feature film, starring Priyanka Chopra and Sienna Miller.

The Golden Son was a Target Book Club Pick, a Costco Buyer’s Pick, and was awarded the French literary prize, Prix des Lyceens Folio. The Shape of Family was an international and American bestseller. Her latest novel, A Great Country, became an instant #1 international bestseller, has been named a top book of the year by over 25 publications, was an Amazon Editors’ pick, Costco Spotlight pick, Indigo Heather’s pick, and earned a starred review from Publishers’ Weekly. It was also longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the New American Voices Award.

Shilpi was named the San Diego Writer of the Year in 2022, and was selected for an artists residency at Ragdale in 2021. She will serve on the Authors Committee of the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and is a Patron of Childhaven International, the organization for which she volunteered in India.

Shilpi 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. She lives in California with her family and cockapoo Chai, where she enjoys being in nature and the ocean when she’s not writing or reading.

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