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THE SHORT BIO:
Neesha was born in India, grew up in Canada, and now shares her time between New York City and Toronto. When she's not writing novels, she and Hollis are being ignored by their two children, a seven-year-old Leo and a four-year-old Aries. Neesha's first book, SHINE, COCONUT MOON, is due out in March, 2009 and her second novel, JAZZ IN LOVE, is under consideration. She is currently working on her third.
THE LONG BIO:
India
I
was born at the tail end of the nineteen sixties to a Sikh family in a
small village in Punjab, India. That's me and my mom. Even then I
carried an empty wallet.
What I remember most is whirling barefoot on warm earth under the noonday sun, my frock swirling around me, and belting out a hindi film song.
Canada
We moved to Toronto in 1974. Here is what I remember: Yep, that's me: feathered hair, blue eyeliner, "frosted" blush and lipstick. The eighties rock, man.
Fast Forward
~ Miss Davies, the first blonde, blue-eyed woman I ever got close
enough to hug. I was fascinated with how exotic she was, how
other-worldly blonde hair and blue eyes seemed to me.
~ Teaching my tongue to twist into the unfamiliar sounds of English. I
learned that the "r" in English is not a good friend for speakers of
most Indian languages.
~ Around this time (much like my character, Samar, in SHINE, COCONUT
MOON) I witnessed the gurdwara, a Sikh temple next door to us, burning
in the middle of the night. The cause of the fire was arson and there
were racial slurs painted onto the brick walls, including the words "go
home." And really, at that point, that was exactly what I wanted to do.
Elementary School
This
photo captures that time perfectly. I have stains on my shirt because
I dressed myself because both parents went to work before my brother
and I woke up for school. I have a sweater on because it's freezing in
Toronto in February. But, it's picture day, so I threw my only dress
on over the turtleneck: a sleeveless summer number. What you don't see
are the two-sizes-too-big-tights-because-I'll-grow-into-them and the
almost neon orange sneakers that my mom just couldn't pass up in the
discount bin.
And the whole English as a Second Language thing? In my thinking it was WAY overrated.
Middle School
There's nothing quite like the experience of moving to a new school in
eighth grade, especially when the school is only grades six through
eight. Need I say more?
The good things...
~ Reading Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, then devouring every other Judy Blume novel I could get my hands on.
~ Reading Tuck, Everlasting, and deciding that maybe there was something to this whole English language thing, after all.
~ The Library Card became my serious bff.
High School
Between this picture and the one above, I
had long, all-one-length hair, worn either in braids or barretts until
a massive rebellion thundered through me and I got bangs, not unlike
Jazz in my second novel, JAZZ IN LOVE.
What was going on during the time of this picture?
~ First pair of heels (ouch)
~ First paycheck (woo hoo!), which led to
~ First hair color and perm (picture above with a cherry red French poodle where the hair is)
One of my first English classes in high school was with this really
cute, blonde English teacher who read everything I wrote out loud to
the class. I wanted to crawl under my desk and hug her at the same
time. Of course, she got fired half way through the semester.
College
WAY better. Here, I really came into my own. I discovered how much I
love nerds, geeks, angry girls, artsy-fartsies, weirdos, and outcasts
in general.
Here are some more Firsts from that time:
~ performed my written work for an audience that consisted of more than just my brother
~ made a few films that were screened in national film festivals in Canada, the U.S. and abroad
~ cut my hair REALLY short (like, it stood up on all sides and you
could see my scalp, short) and, unlike Sammy in SHINE, COCONUT MOON, I
did not have a cool mother who was okay with that
The U.S. of A.
Post Grad
I
had to choose between an early acceptance MSW (pretty much guaranteed
income doing something I enjoy and do well) and the highly lucrative
MFA in Creative Writing (maybe finishing a book, maybe landing an agent who maybe could sell my book, and maybe selling enough copies to cover my advance, then maybe writing another book that might sell...).
Guess what I picked? :)
Work Life
I taught Undergraduate Freshman Lit courses in New York City colleges
and always fell in love with my students. I got shivers when a student
hugged a book that I made them read for class, and I could tell it
resonated with them somewhere way down inside. I was a mushy mess when
my students talked about plot and theme and character with as much
passion as they talked about favorite musicians or sports teams.
And here I am now. Hollis and I have two little munchkins who are
writing their own stories in the world (and smearing grease and sticky
stuff on our walls), and asking me things like, "Mommy, what did they
wear in the old days, when you were little?"
My first novel, SHINE, COCONUT MOON, hits shelves in March, 2009. It is being published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.