Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a novelist, born and raised in Toronto. She now lives in California. In addition to writing, she spent years working in social justice. She served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Defense Fund and is a Patron of Childhaven International.

Secret Daughter, Gowda's 2010 debut novel, was inspired by a summer she spent, while in college, volunteering at an orphanage in India. It became an international bestseller. She published her second novel The Golden Son in 2015.