Born in Bangalore, Roopa Pai is India’s first fantasy adventure novelist for kids. She completed her schooling in Bangalore and went on to do her engineering in computer science. She had her articles coming out in Deccan Herald even before she finished her engineering course. Roopa went on to take her first job in her writing career with Target (the erstwhile children’s magazine published by Living Media) in Delhi from 1993 to 1995. She calls it her dream job. 
She is the author of Taranauts, India’s first fantasy adventure series for kids. It is an eight book series with the eighth one releasing on the 20th of July, this year. Each book of the Taranauts series has sold close to 5000 copies which makes it a best-seller by Indian kidlit standards. Taranauts is published by Hachette India Children’s Books.
Her first published piece was a ‘middle’ in Bangalore’s beloved morning habit, Deccan Herald, when she was in Class 12. Her work has appeared in many well-known publications including Business Today, Indian Review of Books, Travel & Leisure South Asia, The Times of India, Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, and the Asian Age.
Apart from Taranauts, her books for children include:
* Sister, sister – a four-part science series for 6-8 year olds, published by Pratham books
* Kaliyuga Sita and Mechanic Mumtaz, published by UNICEF as part of their ‘Children for Change’ series.
* Fast friend and The Stammerer, published by Pages for Ages as part of their ‘Dealing with Feelings’ series.
Some of her other books include:
* Ticket Bengaluru, a guide to Bangalore (which she calls the best city in the world), published by Stark World
* Chanakya-The Master Statesman, published by Rupa as part of its Charitavali series
* I want to be an engineer, I want to be a teacher, I want to be media professional, career guides published by Career Launcher.
Roopa is part of the founding team of “BangaloreWalks“, an initiative that organizes walking tours in various parts of Bangalore. Roopa conducts the walks for school and college kids, creating fun and meaningful history ‘exploriences’, thus bringing three of her passions – history, kids and Bangalore – together.
Roopa currently resides in Bangalore with her husband and two kids.