Nisha Sharma is an American author of adult and

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

contemporary romance Contemporary romance is a subgenre of Contemporary literature, contemporary and romance novels. This era of romance novels that were published after 1945 and the World War II, Second World War. Contemporary romance is generally Setting (narrative) ...

novels featuring

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

characters.

Early life in education

Sharma is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She has stated that the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

movies she watched as a child influenced her affinity for romance fiction. Sharma enrolled at

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German pat ...

, where she began a pre-medical track before switching to an English major. She graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2007 and later earned an MFA from

Wilkes University Wilkes University is a private university in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and bec ...

Career

Sharma published her first novel, ''My So-Called Bollywood Life'', in 2018, after writing the book as her master's thesis at Wilkes University. The novel earned a

RITA Award The RITA Award, presented by the Romance Writers of America (RWA) from 1990 to 2019, was the most prominent award for English-language romance fiction. It was named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. After not being awarded in 202 ...

from the

Romance Writers of America Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by inc ...

, making Sharma the first author of South Asian descent to win the award. Sharma has written three adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare into novels featuring

characters, a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

titled "If Shakespeare Were an Auntie." The series, published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, includes ''Dating Dr. Dil'', based on ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

''; ''Marriage and Masti'', based on ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

;'' and ''Tastes Like Shakkar'', based on ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

.'' Influenced by

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

, Sharma wrote that she viewed writing adaptations of Shakespeare as a form of

decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

. As of 2022, Sharma taught a creative writing class at Muhlenberg College.

Bibliography

Stand-alone novels

* ''My So-Called Bollywood Life'' (2018) * ''Radha & Jai's Recipe for Romance'' (2021) * ''The Karma Map'' (2023) * ''The Letters We Keep'' (2024)

The Singh Family

* ''The Takeover Effect'' (2019) * ''The Legal Affair'' (2020) * ''A Singh Family Christmas'' (2022)

If Shakespeare Were an Auntie

* ''Dating Dr. Dil'' (2022) * ''Tastes Like Shakkar'' (2023) * ''Marriage & Masti'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Nisha American romantic fiction novelists Muhlenberg College alumni Wilkes University alumni