Not many people are able to say they will have graduated from high school and published two books by the age of 16. But Diya Das can.
Das of Wilkes-Barre is a senior at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston. And she\’s already published “The Evolution of Identity” and “In Mind: A Collection of Poetry.”
Das, the daughter of doctors Ratan and Nandita Das, was born in New Delhi, India, and immigrated to Canada at the age of 1 after her father was accepted into the University of Saskatchewan. Das\’ father took a career path to Florida and then Pennsylvania. After she finished seventh grade, Diya Das moved with her parents to the Wyoming Valley. The young woman was able to enroll in Wyoming Seminary in the ninth grade.
Das\’ first book, “The Evolution of an Identity,” is based on a project she completed for her Seminar in American Studies class, which she took as a junior. With only a few minor revisions, the book is the exact project she handed in for the class. It took Das from December of 2006 to April of 2007 to write. “It was really hard to start writing,” she said. Das had about six drafts and kept re-organizing. She also included three separate sections so she would not feel overwhelmed while writing.
Das ended up rewriting her sections many times.
“I\’m not quite sure how I did it yet at the end,” Das said.
The book is a work of historical fiction that presents the stories of three immigrants from India who make lives for themselves in the United States while trying to maintain their Indian background. Characters in the story look at Indian immigration in the United States from the early 20th century to the present day.
Das focused on three periods of Indian movement to the United States: the Sikhs, the first sizeable group of Indians who immigrated to the United States in San Francisco; the second largest movement of Indian immigration to Chicago during the Cold War; and present day where Das explores how she fits into the Indian community. Das says “Born Confused,” a book about an Indian-American teenage girl who feels not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, helped her write her own book and figure out how she would present her information.
“I was trying to figure out who I was,” Das said. “I\’ve kind of figured out I\’m not Indian, not American, but Indian-American.” She later added, “I\’d like people to realize there is no one definition of Indian-American. There\’s so many ways to be American and Indian.”
“In Mind: A Collection of Poetry” is Das\’ second book, which contains poems she wrote over the last six years. Das has been writing poetry since elementary school and her parents encouraged her to publish them. She refers to “In Mind” as her “poem journal” because many of the poems are reactions to her day. Das says she calls the book “In Mind” because the poems seem to be a conversation in her mind. “I\’ve thought of poems while brushing my teeth and go write them down,” Das said. Often Das thinks of poems and never writes them down.
It does not bother Das that she is younger than most of the other students who are seniors. Das says she has friends of all ages and mingles with people in every grade.
Das\’ favorite subject is math and her current favorite class is British Literature. Das is also taking a biology class at Wilkes University. (She originally wanted to take Advanced Placement Biology at Wyoming Seminary, but her schedule would not allow it. So, Das signed up for a regular college biology class and laboratory at Wilkes.)
Through “In Mind,” Das says she can see how her writing style has changed and progressed over the years. She used to focus primarily on rhyming but now just writes. Das finds some of her older poetry to be humorous. “In Mind” is broken down into sections such as “Daydreams & Nightmares.”
Recently, Das had two book signings in the area. On Oct. 6 she was at Borders Bookstore near the Viewmont Mall, and on Oct. 13 Das was at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre. Published by Tribute Books, both books are available for $9.95 at these bookstores, amazon.com, and tribute-books.com. An Ebook version is also available at tribute-books.com for $4.95.
An active student at Wyoming Seminary, Das is the co-editor in chief of the student newspaper; The Opinator. Das is a member of the Community Service Group and its Executive Committee and organizes the Angel Tree project each year. Additionally, Das performs with the orchestra and chorale, is student leader of the Math Club and participates in local math competitions, and has been nominated for the 2007 Alumni Service Awards. In the summer, Das attended the Pennsylvania Governor\’s School for the Sciences.
In the community, Das has served on the United Way Youth Allocations Committee; the Luzerne County Diversity Task Force, and immigration subcommittee “Community Spirit”; and is a member of the Lehigh Valley Bengali Association and the Indo-American Association of Northeast Pennsylvania.
In her free time, Das likes to figure skate, play the violin and the piano, write poetry and read. Das has also traveled back to India with her parents to visit family. She went once in the second grade and again the summer after her freshman year of high school. Her parents have gone several other times. Das, who is an only child, has seen aunts, uncles, and her numerous cousins while there. In India, Das says great value is placed on extended family.
Das can understand Bengali, one of the 37 dialects in India. Though sometimes accents create a problem for her, it helps both of her parents speak Bengali fluently.
With the end of her high school years quickly approaching, Das is looking into applying to Yale and Stanford universities. Das plans to study math and physics but says she will also take many humanities classes because she likes to read and write. Her favorite categories to read are science fiction and fantasy books.
Das is proud of her books, but she does not want to let them consume her. “After having these published, I\’m still a senior in high school,” Das said. Das says she has always been more of a reader than a writer, but she may write another book someday. Either way, she says now writing a three- to five-page paper for English class is not so bad.
“After having these published, I\’m still a senior in high school.”
The Evolution of an Identity
ISBN: 9780979504563
92 pp.
$9.95
In Mind
ISBN: 9780979504556
104 pp.
$9.95