Supriya Kelkar is an award-winning writer and the proud author of 17 children’s books, including ‘American as Paneer Pie,’ which tells the story of a girl discovering her voice as an “outsider” in her own community, with her two friends, and her first book, “Ahimsa,” which follows a young girl named Anjali who fights for her own freedom and her country’s during the Indian Independence Movement.

But she wasn’t always as confident as she is today, growing up Kelkar often struggled to find a voice and speak up for herself.

Growing up in a small town in metro Detroit, Kelkar faced chronic bullying due to her skin color and other differences from her peers. 

However, she found comfort in her communities.

“I was fortunate to grow up going to several different Indian cultural associations and getting to appreciate the diversity within South Asian culture,” Kellar said. “Much of ‘American as Paneer Pie’ is based on experiences that really happened to me when I was your age. It took many years for me to find my voice.”

But Kelkar doesn’t always write her stories using her personal life as inspiration, she also recognizes her Indian heritage. “Ahimsa” and ‘Strong as Fire,” “Fierce as Flame” detail the lives of people living during the time of British-occupied India and turn them into entertaining stories while educating readers about the struggles of those alive at the time.

Kelkar eventually decided to attend the University of Michigan and she found the new diverse environment refreshing and freeing.

As she continued her education at the University of Michigan, Kelkar discovered that her voice was naturally expressed through writing. She realized she could use her passion for writing to uplift others and make a difference in her community.

Because of this, she set out on a journey to write her first novel “Ahimsa.” But it wasn’t easy, the road to publishing “Ahimsa” was not straightforward. Kelkar noted that, for many years, the publishing industry refused to acknowledge diverse voices in books. 

“I wrote the first draft of ‘Ahimsa’ in 2003 before you were born,” she said. “And I received hundreds of rejection letters over many years for it, and dozens of other books and screenplays.” 

Despite these setbacks, she remained committed to her story and kept revising. Her perseverance eventually led to the successful publication of “Ahimsa” in 2017. 

Kelkar said she was inspired to write through growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when there was no representation in books, TV shows, movies, commercials, or even junk mail fliers featuring anyone who looked like herself, she never thought her story mattered, until third grade when her teacher assigned a project where each student had to write a book.

“He even bound them into hardcover,” Kelkar said. “It was the first time I saw my name, an Indian American name, on a book cover. That day made me think about wanting to be a writer.”

Many of her novels which include “Ahimsa,” “American as Paneer Pie,” the 2022 Global Read Aloud: “Strong as Fire,” “Fierce as Flame,” and many more are about recognizing you shine, your power, and knowing you matter. 

“I write these books because I want readers like you to always know you have the power to make a difference and make a change,” Kelkar said. 

Although “Ahimsa” was Kelkar’s debut novel, it wasn’t her first exposure to published writing. In fifth grade, she and a friend launched a classroom newspaper.

“I heard it lasted for several years after we left elementary school,” she said.

She was also a writer in her high school newspaper.

“I don’t remember much about it except it was exciting when we would get assigned subjects to cover that we were interested in too,” Kelkar said. “For me, that was books and movies.”

While she couldn’t remember the specific details from her time there, she remembered it as a rewarding experience that she really enjoyed.