Author Spotlight: Priya Parikh, Author of Dancing Devi

Today I have the pleasure of sharing part of my conversation with Priya Parikh, author of Dancing Devi. 

I want to ask about Dancing Devi. I got it from the library and I’ve read it. I wanted to ask about that book in particular, was it inspired by your own experience with Bharatanatyam?

Yeah, so, Bharatanatyam. And it’s a dance form that’s more than 2,000 years old. I had been practicing it since I was 8 years old. And then I completed my Arangetram which is a type of dance graduation when I was 18. So, I’ve been practicing it formally for about 10 years. Even now, I still continue to do it every now and then when I want to post a clip or connect with dance friends.

Cool, so then doing that–did you continue doing it after the girl in your story? I know you said you do it sometimes, did you continue competing or is that something that you kind of phased out as you got older?

The whole story isn’t like a bio. It’s inspired by my own experiences but I didn’t participate in a dance competition for Bharatanatyam. But I was in different competitions like writing competitions, speech competitions. So, those feelings of being anxious and nervous were the same.

I really enjoyed it. I actually did different types of dance when I was younger. For about a little over a decade, not that it was very practiced when I was two years old. But I did a lot of competitions, so I could relate to it really easily with those failings. I really enjoyed how in the story it’s not that she wins and everything’s great. It’s that life is never simple like that and it’s more important that we’re resilient than anything.

I’m so glad that people were able to resonate with it and take the takeaways from it. I think that’s what made the book so unique and even at the ending I was trying to make sure that she didn’t win. I was wanting to make sure that more important was the amount of self-love and self-compassion that she found for herself.

Yeah, I definitely got that from it. So, was Dancing with Devi the first manuscript you completed or were there other ones you worked on before?

Dancing with Devi is my first one. I started in 2019 and that was kind of the first theme or topic that I gravitated towards. I think it is because I’m so passionate about dance in the first place. 

So, that was very well. I resonated with that and decided I need to do this. Then I noticed that there weren’t many–I guess this goes into the why too but, there weren’t many Foundation books out there that focused on Cultural Indian Arts whether it’s dance or music.

Yeah, it was the first I’d read about that kind of dance.

Yeah, when it was published it was one of the first two books on Bharatanatyam that were out there for children to read. 

What got you into writing children’s literature in particular? 

I think part of it was because I grew up never seeing books on diversity and inclusion. I personally had a dream of being an author in the first place and it was something that I wanted to do. But along with that was this need to write this because there wasn’t anyone else writing that story. And I saw a need to change the type of stories we were telling our children so that we made sure that they felt more heard, more listened to, more included, more represented. 

That kind of inspired me to start writing. So, I guess it was just the actual need for it because there’s a huge gap in terms of literature.

Awesome! Yeah, I feel like I got that too from it because if someone had written a story similar two decades ago, it would have been that there was a second competition. I feel like with the books I grew up with, there would have been a second competition and she won. Perseverance was more the message with the books that my generation grew up with.

Yeah, I did have to do some research for what was already out there and that’s kind of what I thought too. It was the idea of perseverance which is so important too, but not at the expense of yourself.

Exactly! So, you said you had this dream of being an author. When did that start for you?

I want to say I must have been like 14 or 15 years old and I think it was around the time that I fell in love with the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling just inspired me that if she can write something like this and it’s an imagination fiction and so many people are interested in it, you can see the power of a book. 

That’s what I realized. She made that impression in my head. I think that’s when I started having my own diary and then I stopped at some time. Life kind of got really hectic and I stopped. But once I started deciding to write Dancing Devi, I started writing in my diary again. The two coincided. It was my way of expressing myself through the book and a love letter to myself as well. 

When you are writing, are you ever writing for anyone in particular? Some people talk about the specific reader they have in mind or like they’re writing to their younger self or to their child. Is there anyone you have in mind when you’re writing or is it more of filling that story that you feel you need to write?

It’s more of filling that gap which we mentioned earlier. So, it’s kind of general. But yes, there is a part of me that’s a younger self that I am speaking to and getting ideas from. So, that’s definitely there but I think in general I would say it’s to any child that’s experiencing some type of social or emotional issue and wants to work on it or improve it.

Or it’s someone that’s working, or a parent that wants to instill a particular value in a child they’re hoping to share with this book. Even though it is South Asian, and it’s targeting South Asian communities, it’s very diverse in the sense that you can learn so much more than just the Indian art.

Yeah, well I feel like it’s a universal story of struggle. Like you’re saying, that kind of resilience and building that because whether it’s with Bharatanatyam dancing or tap dancing, whatever you’re doing that you’re struggling through, you can relate to that.

Just one more question. If you could talk to many years ago Priya, way back when you first started writing and you had that dream and you could give her one bit of advice, what would it be?

I would say, “Stay focused.” There are so many distractions in the world. There are so many thoughts and ideas especially in our mind, forget the external worlds also in our mind. But if we just hold on to one idea and make it our own, then I think we are more successful. 

We will be able to succeed. Also, this quote by Swami Vivekananda has been very helpful to me during difficult times: “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced.”

Is there anything else we didn’t talk about that you wanted to add?

I did want–when you asked me “was Dancing Devi inspired by my own experience?” I did want to share it’s also if you notice, the strong relationship between a mother and a daughter. And that is something I am touched with God’s grace, so blessed to have in my life. So that parental figure in the book is actually inspired by my mom.

That’s beautiful! Where can we find you and your book?

It’s available at most booksellers like independent sellers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more. You can connect on my website or Instagram.

I can’t thank Priya enough! Meeting her was an absolute joy and I look forward to seeing whatever she makes next as well as talking with her again! 

Next week I’ll share an excerpt from my interview with author/illustrator Marie Boyd about her art and recent publication, Just A Worm.

Want more author interviews? Check out last week’s with Susan Johnston Taylor here!