Kamla K. Kapur was born and raised in India and studied in the United States. Her writing has included plays, novels, poetry, essays and reimaging Indian spiritual writings.

Her critically acclaimed books, published in the USA and India, include: Rumi: Tales of the Spirit (Mandala USA, 2019) reinterpreting stories by Rumi (the great Sufi mystic poet) with her insightful commentaries, The Singing Guru, on the legends of Guru Nanak (Mandala, 2015),Rumi’s Tales from the Silk Road, Pilgrimage to Paradise (Mandala USA and Penguin India, 2009), and Ganesha Goes to Lunch:Classics from Mystic India (2007, Mandala) [also retitled Classic Tales from Mystic India, Jaico Publishing/India, 2013]. Her highly praised books of poetry include Gift Of Grief (Tarang Press, 2019, reprint of As A Fountain In A Garden, 2005) and Radha Sings: Erotic Love Poems (Tarang Press, 2019, reprint from1987).

Kapur won the prestigious Indian Sultan Padamsee Award for two playsKaamiya, and Zanana. Other plays include: The Curlew’s Cry, Clytemnestra, Kepler Dreams, Hamlet’s Father.Kapur was the recipient of The New Mexico Arts Division Playwright in Residence (1985-87). Her poetry and short stories have appeared in the USA and India in prestigious journals, including Parabola, journal of Myth, Tradition (New York).  Kapur was a semi-finalist for the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize (2006).

Kapur was on the faculty of Grossmont College, San Diego for 15 years teaching composition, literature, creative writing, mythology, and Shakespeare. She is an accomplished public speaker and has moved audiences in the USA and India. Kapur divides her time living in the remote Indian Himalayas and in San Diego, California, with her husband, the artist/writer Payson R. Stevens.

Short Bio