Veena Rao

Veena Rao was born and raised in India but calls Atlanta home. A journalist by profession, she is the founding editor and publisher of NRI Pulse, a popular Indian-American newspaper. Although her day job involves news reports, interviews, and meeting press deadlines, she devotes her spare time to creative writing and long walks in the woods. Purple Lotus, her debut novel, is the winner of the She Writes Press and SparkPress Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP) contest.

 Twitter: @VeenaRaoNRI

Instagram: @VeenaRao

Favorite non-reading activity?

I love long walks. It gives me the serotonin boost to see me through the day, and gets my creative juices flowing when I am writing. So many scenes in my novel, Purple Lotus, were created in Georgia’s wooded trails, amidst tall pines, chirping birds and fresh air. That might explain why Tara, my protagonist, walks or drives around every time she needs to think. Those scenes may have come to life at those very places.

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

I’m a guilt-ridden sugar addict. I stayed away from sweet treats for several years, but found myself substituting sugar with sweeteners, until my gut started to protest. Now, I’m back to binging on sugary desserts after dinner and feeling guilty about it for the rest of the day. Strangely, even though I cook every day, I don’t often attempt to make desserts myself. There’s plenty of food in Purple Lotus-- sweet and savory, Indian and Southern.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

All the time. When I’m applauded for being the first Indian woman to launch a newspaper in America, I secretly wonder what the brouhaha is about. I was asked to do a corporate presentation on resilience recently, and my first thought was: Oh, if they knew how I almost came apart in June and July, they’d never ask me. I had to remind myself that I bounced back from that state, and that’s what resilience is about.

What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?

My purple lotus mask will, for the rest of my life, remind me of the time I launched my debut novel during a pandemic. I hope to someday have a granddaughter to inherit my mask.

Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?

For most of my life, silence was my language. My school friends know me as the girl who said very little. Even now, I’d rather listen than speak; ask questions rather than answer them. When I speak, it’s in English, or my mother tongue Kannada (a language spoken in Karnataka, a state in southern India), or in Hindi, India’s national language. My writing is heavily influenced by my Mangalorean and Indian heritage, but I think and write only in English. I attribute that to my English language schooling and exposure to British and American books very early in life.