Varsha Bajaj

 By Margaret Lea

You probably know that Varsha Bajaj is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade book THIRST. But did you know that she found career inspiration watching American Idol in 2008? 

She realized how easy it was to see which singers would advance through the audition rounds, but as the competition progressed it was extremely subjective, as all were so talented. This helped Varsha not get discouraged by the many rejections coming in for her writing. She did not, however, take this realization and wait. Instead, she studied, attended classes, went to critique groups, and constantly worked to improve, putting in the 10,000 hours of practice she’d read about in Malcolm Gladwell’s book OUTLIERS.

Some of Varsha’s mentors were Gary Schmidt, Matt de la Peña, Jacqueline Woodson, Doreen Cronin, Kate DiCamillo, Mem Fox, and Laurie Halse Anderson. No, not one-on-one but through their books. She underlined sentences, analyzed structure and deconstructed scenes from these mentor texts, then applied what she learned to her own work.

Born in Mumbai, India, she came to the US in 1986 for graduate school. Previous cross-cultural reading gave her the yearning to experience the world, then helped her adjust when she arrived here, knowing no one. She completed grad school, worked as a counselor, married, had children, and became a US citizen. Reading picture books to her children spurred her to start writing them herself.

In the early 2010’s, she took a four-day Story Masters (story structure) workshop with Christopher Voegler, James Scott Bell, and Donald Maaas. She bought their books to continue learning after the workshop, and Christopher Voegler inspired her to read the original Hero’s Journey by James Campbell— “It changed my life” she says.

Varsha first queried agents in 2007 with picture books but got rejections. When several agents asked if she had a middle grade manuscript, she wrote one. Ultimately, this book didn’t sell, but it got her an agent. Many years later, when this agent stopped agenting, she signed with Caryn Wiseman at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Today, Varsha is the author of many picture and middle grade books. She even wrote the book IT’S SHOWTIME, KAVI for American Girl about their first South Asian doll, Kavi. The company’s editors had enjoyed Varsha’s book COUNT ME IN, so approached her to work with them. Varsha’s newest release (June, 2024) is the picture book A GARLAND OF HENNA, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan. Themes include culture, family, courage and perseverance.

Tips from Varsha are:

1) To be a good writer you need to be a reader.

2) Write when the muse beckons but also on days when it’s a struggle. Make writing a habit.

3)Turn off your inner editor while writing the first draft.

Varsha’s goal for each of her books is to “encourage kids to think about what they feel passionate about and act, in however small a way, to make the world a better place.” Lastly, she urges writers, “Celebrate each small victory with cake.”

Visit Varsha's website https://www.varshabajaj.com/