Our guest today is Roopa Pai, one of India’s best-known writers for children. This Bangalore-based author has written over 25 books, ranging from picture books to chapter books and fiction to non-fiction, on themes as varied as sci-fi fantasy, popular science, maths, history, economics, Indian philosophy, life skills, and most recently, medicine. Many of her books are bestsellers and are enjoyed as much by adults as by children. Her best-known books include the 8-part Taranauts, India’s first fantasy-adventure series for children in English, Ready! 99 Must-Have Skills For The World-Conquering Teenager (And Almost-Teenager), the award-winning national bestseller The Gita For Children, listed by Amazon India as one of ‘100 Indian Books To Read In A Lifetime, and its ‘prequel’ The Vedas And Upanishads For Children. Her TEDx talk ‘Decoding The Gita, India’s Book Of Answers’ has received over 2 million views to date. Her most recent book for children is ‘Leeches To Slug Glue: 25 Explosive Ideas That Made (And Are Making) Modern Medicine’. She has also co-authored fitness evangelist and supermodel Milind Soman’s memoir, Made In India, and is currently working on a book of poetry translation, in which she is translating 100 poems of the much-acclaimed Kannada poet, Padma Shri K S Nisar Ahmed, into English. Her most recent book for adults - CubbonPark: The Green Heart of Bengaluru – was released a month ago. When she is not writing, Roopa can be found leading groups of children and young people on history and heritage walks across her beloved Karnataka, as part of her job as director of a company she co-founded, BangaloreWalks. Listen in as Roopa shares her philosophy of life & her journey to becoming the popular author she is today.

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