Mitali Perkins has written twelve books for young readers. She has been nominated for a National Book Award, honored as a "Most Engaging Author" by independent booksellers, and selected as a "Literary Light for Children" by the Associates of the Boston Public Library. In 2018, she was on the National Book Award committee. Mitali was born in Kolkata, India before immigrating to the United States. She has lived in Bangladesh, India, England, Thailand, Mexico, Cameroon, and Ghana, studied at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.