Sayantani DasGupta Books In Order

Publication Order of Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond Books

Publication Order of The Pinki Adventures Books

Publication Order of Secrets of the Sky Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of She Persisted Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sayantani DasGupta is a renowned American children’s author and physician-scholar of Indian heritage. She was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1970 and was brought up in New Jersey and Ohio. Sayantani completed her graduation from Brown University. She earned her MPH and M.D. degrees from the John Hopkins Univerity. Sayantani is trained in public health and pediatrics. She is employed at the Columbia University as a teacher of Narrative medicine in the Master’s degree program. She also teaches in the Graduate Program at the Sarah Lawrence College. In addition to writing children’s stories, practicing medicine, and teaching, Sayantani speaks on the issues of race, gender, medical education, and storytelling on the national level.

Sayantani has appeared on the cover pages of a number of reputed magazines such as O, The Oprah Magazine, Ms, etc. Also, there are several documentary films and other media outlets in which Sayantani has featured repeatedly. She serves as the associate editor of the Literature & Medicine journal. There have been numerous publishings of author Sayantani in the literary and academic outlets, as well as journals like The Lancet, Hunger Mountain, JAMA, Literary Mama Magazine, and Ms. Sayantani is the daughter of a renowned activist named Shamita Das DasGupta. She has spoken extensively about her relationship with her mother and has written with her on the mother-daughter experiences widely.

Sayantani has written a memoir based on her time at John Hopkins and has also co-authored a book based on the folktales of Bengal. She has even served as a co-editor of an award-winning collection of narratives about women’s illness. Sayantani made her debut in the middle-grade novel genre with the book called The Serpent’s Secret, which is a part of her successful Kirnamala & the Kingdom Beyond. Author Sayantani says that she grew up hearing tales of brave princes, flying pakkhiraj horses, and bloodthirsty rakkhosh from her mother. There was a definite interest in her in writing stories, but she chose to focus on her medical studies first. Later, she went on to cherish her dream of being an author by writing exciting children’s stories.

When Sayantani is not busy with her medical profession or reading or writing, she likes to watch cooking shows on TV with her children and being in the company of her pet dog named Khushi, a black Labrador Retriever. When Sayantani was growing up in Ohio as an immigrant from India during the 1970s, she didn’t find any book like her debut novel to read. And whichever book she used to take up for reading, she used to feel as if there was no story, no space, and or any cultural mirror that reflected her way of living back to her. During the earlier years of her life, Sayantani was a movie addict and a complete bookworm. She used to get lost in the stories, but always felt that there was something missing. It took Sayantani many years to understand that the stories were lacking diversity in them.

It was at the time of a summer vacation trip to her grandparents’ house in Kolkata that Sayantani found the thing that she was missing in her stories. She felt as if she has found herself in her own cultural stories. During that trip, it felt to her like she has come to a completely different dimension from the one that she was in while living in America. It was not before Sayantani saw what her children liked to read about in a book that she realized what she wanted to write and describe in her story. Today, Sayantani is happy to know that she has succeeded in writing a story that she wanted to read during her childhood and has also shared them with the readers successfully. She hopes that the readers enjoy the stories and become inspired to write their own stories like her.

The Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series written by author Sayantani DasGupta is comprised of a total of 2 books, which were released between 2018 and 2019. Both the books feature the chief protagonist in the form of a small girl named Kiranmala, who lives in New Jersey. The other important characters mentioned by author Sayantani include King Serpent, Rakkhoshi Queen, and several others. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘The Serpent’s Secret’. It was released by the Scholastic publication in 2018. The novel begins by showing that Kiranmala is a 12-year-old girl residing in Parsipanny, New Jersey and studying in the 6th grade.

Everything seems to be going as usual in her life until her parents disappear mysteriously and a deadly rakkhosh demon enters her kitchen to eat her. Later, Kiranmala realizes that there was some truth to the fantastical stories that her parents used to tell her during bedtime. This sudden change of events also makes her realize that her parents were telling the truth when they described her as an Indian princess with demon-slaying powers. Kiranmala also begins to sense that she has come from a secret place outside this world. The situation turns much more complicated when a couple of handsome princes arrive at Kiranmala’ door and claim that they have come to her rescue. And with this sudden change of situation, Kiranmala finds herself swept in a different dimension filled with winged horses, talking birds, moving maps, and magic. In the new dimension, Kiranmala must battle demons and solve riddles while avoiding the dangerous Rakkhoshi Queen and deadly Serpent King for finding her parents and also save the world from deadly destruction.

The next installment of this series is called ‘Game of Stars’. This book also features Kiranmala as the central character. In this book, it is revealed that Kiranmala has born in the alternate dimension called Kingdom Beyond. She is the Kingdom’s Indian princess and has been sent to earth to keep it safe from external dangers. When Kiranmala is suddenly visited by the Demon Queen in her bedroom with evil bees, she does not look interested. She is upset that her friends from her homeland did not contact her for 4 months. But, when she receives a call for help with the warning of danger, Kiranmala decides to return to the Kingdom Beyond. After reaching there, she sees that danger is lurking on her close friends and the society has started fraying. Once again, she faces the challenge of battling witches, solving riddles, and avoiding the evils.