Swati Avasthi

Swati Avasthi’s first novel, Split (Knopf, 2010) received the International Reading Association Award, Cybils Award, received recognition from 15 US state awards committees, and was translated into four languages. Her second, Chasing Shadows received several starred reviews from School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and was listed as a Best of 2013 by Kirkus, Bank Street College, and YALSA. Swati got her BA from The University of Chicago and an MFA from University of Minnesota. She teaches at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She worked on Split with the mentors in the Loft Mentor Series years ago when she was a recipient of this award.