Professional Bio

Anjali Banerjee was born in India, raised in Canada and California and received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. When she was seven, she wrote her first story about an abandoned puppy on a beach in Bengal.

The Philadelphia Inquirer called her debut young adult novel, Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books, 2005), “beautiful and complex” and “pleasingly accessible.” The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books called the book “eloquently composed” and “insightfully written.” Maya Running is on the American Library Association’s “2007 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Nominations” list, Chicago Public Library’s“Best of the Best” list of children’s novels published in 2005, and the New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age 2006” list. Penguin Books India published Maya Running on the Indian subcontinent and in Singapore. India Today Book Club, India’s biggest book club, chose Maya Running as a “Pick of the Season,” and the novel received accolades in major Indian publications, including INDOlink, The Hindustan Times and Deccan Chronicle.

Horn Book Magazine called Anjali’s second novel for children, Looking for Bapu (Wendy Lamb Books, 2006)  “a moving story about surviving an unexpected, shocking loss;” Booklist called the book “imaginative,” “hilarious” and “an excellent read aloud”; and The Philadelphia Inquirer called it “sophisticated and very likable.” Of the many elements in the novel–generational differences, friendship, religion, and grief immediately post-9/11—Mary Harris Russell of The Chicago Tribune wrote, “Banerjee deftly keeps all this in balance. We never lose sight of either the serious issues—the family’s loss and love—or the comedic ones.” King County Library System chose Looking for Bapu as one of the Best Books of 2006; Seattle Public Library included the book on its “2006 Books for Giving” list.

In October 2005, Anjali’s first novel for adults, Imaginary Men (Downtown Press/Pocket Books, 2005) was chosen as a Book Sense Notable Book. The Seattle Times called Imaginary Men “a romantic comedy equal to Bend it Like Beckham”; Booklist called it “charming” and “fairytale-like”; Publishers Weekly called it a “fun debut...a Bridget Jones's Diary meets Monsoon Wedding-style escapade.” RT BOOKreviews magazine called Anjali’s second novel for adults, Invisible Lives, “magical” and “joyful,” and The Seattle Times called it “poignant” and “surprising.”

Anjali’s Pushcart Prize-nominated short fiction has appeared in several literary journals including Writing for Our Lives (twice), Lynx Eye (twice), Möbius: The Journal of Social Change, Nerve, Elements and the University of Baltimore’s Passager: A Journal of Remembrance and Discovery, and in the anthology New to North America: Writing by Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren. Her short story “Satin and Lace” is used as a model story in Skagit Valley College classes and in workshops at the Whidbey Island Writers’ Conference; and “Goddess of Learning” and Anjali’s novel, Imaginary Men, are assigned reading in California college classes.

An alumnus of Hedgebrook, which is an esteemed retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Anjali has been a speaker at the South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF®) at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and has led workshops for Field’s End, a Bainbridge Island, Washington-based writers’ community offering classes taught by award-winning authors. A contributing writer for three regional history books and local newspapers, Anjali lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three cats and a rabbit named Friday.