Malavika Kannan is an Indian-American novelist, feminist writer, and political activist raised in the suburbs of Central Florida. She wrote her award-winning debut novel, The Bookweaver’s Daughter, when she was seventeen years old. Malavika is currently an undergraduate at Stanford University. A relentless advocate for girls changing the world, Malavika uses stories to speak truth to power and disrupt narratives. Her writing about race, culture, politics, and identity appears in HuffPost, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, NYLON, Vice, Refinery29, Harper’s Bazaar, and the Stanford Daily. Her essays about gun violence and women of color in literature have reached millions of readers, and in 2018 her HuffPost essay went viral, exploring the Indian-American experience with empathy and humor. Malavika’s writing has won accolades from Scholastic Art & Writing, YoungArts, and the Library of Congress, among other places. Beyond the page, Malavika is a nationally-recognized activist for women’s rights and youth empowerment. She has organized historic political campaigns for Women’s March, Giffords, and March For Our Lives, including #NationalSchoolWalkout, the largest single-day youth-led protest in American history. She is founder of Homegirl Project, a girl-led organization that empowers female-identifying youth of color to become political leaders. Homegirl Project has served thousands of girls nationwide through its storytelling, mentorship, and political training programs. When she’s not writing stories or mobilizing youth to change the world, Malavika enjoys beaching, snacking, thrifting, tweeting, reading, and calling her representatives. You can keep up with her at malavikakannan.com.