AUTHOR AND FOUNDER
Priya Kumari is a multi-award-winning children’s author and the founder of Eternal Tree Books, which produces mainly children’s books. Her mission is to publish uplifting books created by visionary authors and artists to share stories from under-represented Indian and other Asian cultures. Celebrated personalities like Hema Malini, Sharon Salzberg, Prof Ved Nanda, and Prof Lokesh Chandra have praised her books. Her most popular book, Leaf Talks Peace: Buddha’s Message of Harmony, is the first such picture book to be blessed with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
She was born and raised in India, in a scenic town located in the foothills of Himalayas. While growing up in the lap of Mother Nature, she was also fortunate to have a Shiva temple and a Buddhist monastery right opposite her home. Her frequent visits to these shrines, her connection with plants, trees, animals, and mountains, her mother’s meditation practices, and her father’s bookstore from where she inherited her love for reading and passion for the written word, instilled in her a sense of inner peace and mindfulness. At a young age, she learnt the importance of living a life guided by the principles of compassion, kindness, and empathy towards all beings and environment.
As a mother, she wanted her children to inherit the same values while growing up in America. But she saw the values of peace within and without missing in many children’s books. She also could not find many authentic books explaining cultures and ways of living of people of Asian origin. This made her change her career to publishing from accounting. She has written and published many beautiful children’s books on festivals and motivational books inspired by eastern philosophy. Her work has been covered by News 12, TV Asia, ITV Gold, New York Weekly, USA Wire, LA Wire, International Business Times, several magazines, podcasts, blogs, and radio shows.
Passionate about diverse representation in publishing, Priya was also selected as a member of the Diversity Equity & Inclusion committee of the largest publishing association in the US–IBPA. She is the founding board member of South Asian Kidlit and on board of East Brunswick Library Foundation and East Brunswick Human Relations Council. She is also a certified public accountant and lives in New Jersey with her husband and their two sons.
