ABOUT ME

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American novelist, scholar, and screenwriter, with a PhD in English, who tells women-centric stories in unusual settings.

In her routines and writing, audiences experience what it means to be brown and female in a supposedly post racial era. Mohana creates humorous feminist and cultural content like in her solo show Being Brown is My Superpower, in which she channels a lifetime of cultural misunderstandings. An award-winning novelist, she writes compelling characters in diverse settings. Named a SheWrites New Novelist, with several Best Indie book titles, in the Crimes in Arabia series, she explores the seams of life in the Arabian Gulf though the eyes of a female Arab detective and her grumpy cop sidekick turned husband.

Her screenwriting has also been recognized by the Austin Film Festival, Humanitas Awards, WrapWomen Pitch Fest and BRIC Open TV Pitch competition. Most recently, she wrote and produced Me Against the World, a collegiate romantic comedy, with diverse leads and a sports element which has been named a Best American Short, Best Romantic comedy, and an official selection at 8 international film festivals and winner at 5. In her second short film, American Baby, an Indian expat couple tries to order tacos for the first time and inadvertently holds up the lunch line.

She is also founder and creative director of the Short Film Lab, an incubator for first time female filmmakers in their teens and twenties based in the Middle East.

You can follow her journey as she adapts her short stories into feature films on Twitter or Instagram.

Reader Comments

  1. Taking a leap on faith | The Miracle Journal
    – Reply

    […] Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar (also known as Mohana) is a writer who has lived in Qatar since 2005. She has a PhD from the University of Florida with a focus on gender and postcolonial theory. She is the creator and co-editor of five books in the Qatar Narratives series, as well as the Qatari Voices anthology which features essays by Qataris on modern life in Doha (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2010). […]

  2. Amy Lignor
    – Reply

    Hey there! I hope you’re doing well. You were kind enough to be a part of the blog tour for Until Next Time and because of amazing sites like yours, an event has been put together for the book. I wanted to let you and your readers know about a really big event that’s coming up with cash and book giveaways – if you want to stop by or post on your site. Thank you!

    Twitter Party
    Tuesday, May 8, 2012
    8 p.m. Eastern

    Follow hashtag #UntilNextTime as author Amy Lignor answers your questions for 90 minutes live on Twitter. A $50 cash prize will be given to the person who has a receipt confirming an ebook purchase of Until Next Time and tweets at least once during the Twitter Party. We’ll also be giving away a variety of ebooks and print books throughout the event. Let us know if you are planning to attend by tweeting @TributeBooks or @HelloWritersAmy to RSVP

  4. Madhu Bhatia Garg
    – Reply

    Hi, I read your narrative Essays, “Qatar then and now”.Loved it,enjoyed it and this narrative actually inspired me to showcase glimpses of Qatar then and now. This happened when my school wanted the English dept. to contribute something towards Qatar National Day celebration,something that could gel with the occasion.Browsing through various ideas,I came across this book,read it and there in a flash I thought of sharing it with my teachers——–Each one of us has read the book,I am trying to put the pieces together to showcase this journey with our very young students Grade1 to 6 in our school,starting from Pearl diving days to now—-I am not sure how we will do it but trying my best. Thankyou for inspiring me.
    Regards
    madhu

  7. Sabin Iqbal
    – Reply

    Hi,

    Been following you for some time now. Am in Doha at the moment. Might go back to India in a couple of days but planning to come back soon.

    Writing is my passion. Have completed a novel, and now am working on my second one, set in the UAE.

    Love to meet up some time.

    Sabin

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