About Ramya S. Kapadia:
Ramya S. Kapadia is a Knoxville-based multi-disciplinary artist specializing in Bharatanatyam dance, Carnatic music (South Indian classical dance & music forms), visual art (Warli tribal art from Western India) and writing (children’s fiction). Ramya has toured all over the United States & abroad to present solo & group works. She regularly provides vocal accompaniment to dancers around the world and composes music for their productions.
Ramya has Master’s degrees in Medical Physics and Neuroscience and pursues the arts full time now. She runs the Natyarpana School of Dance & Music in Durham, NC, through which she shares the rich traditions of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam across the USA. She is also the Associate Artistic and Outreach Director of Maryland-based Prakriti Dance.
She received the Ella Pratt Emerging Artist Award from the Durham Arts Council in 2010, the Choreography Fellowship from the North Carolina Dance Alliance in 2016 and an Artist Support Grant from the NC Arts Council in 2020. She is on the Advisory Committee of the “Dance at the Van Dyke” series at Greensboro Dance Project and a Teaching Artist with the Durham and United Arts Councils and Arts Access in North Carolina. Through these affiliations, she is pursuing research to integrate the principles of her 2000-year old form with the STEAM curriculum in schools, emphasizing accessibility to children with special needs. In 2019, she received the Public Space Project award from Downtown Durham Inc., which resulted in a Warli mural which reflected Durham’s changing landscape from the 1600s to the present. Her artwork was a part of the Black History Month exhibit at the Knoxville Art Alliance. She also published her first book “Taikamaa & the Twin Stars” in 2023.
Ramya believes that art can and should tell stories that move audiences to becoming better and more compassionate human beings. The collaborators in her works are artists, scientists, literary scholars and philosophers who all share her vision of creating a better world through art. She is grateful to her many mentors for providing her with rich and varied experiences in the arts.
What inspires you to write?
As a multi-disciplinary artist, I am moved and inspired by all forms of art. I also know that some stories are better danced; some are better sung or painted; others are better written. When I wrote Taikamaa & The Twin Stars, I could see the entire book play like a movie in my head, so all I had to do was to type out that narrative. This book of course, I wrote as a gift to my daughter, an avid reader with vivid imagination, on her tenth birthday.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
My absolute favorite author who has influenced me is Enid Blyton, a prolific British author of children’s fiction. The sheer variety of characters and situations that she created taught me that one could find a creative spark in the most simple or mundane of things. Close upon the heels of Enid Blyton are Agatha Christie, Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon and Robin Cook. I’ve also grown quite fond of Devdutt Patnaik, who has very interesting takes on Hindu Mythology, which I’ve found useful for my dance works.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am more of a seat of the pants writer, when I am actually in front of my computer and typing away. But I do have some sort of outline of how I want the story to flow in my head. I suppose I really should write down the outline from now on!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
No, I don't talk "to" my characters; I become my characters. That way, I can see what they are wearing, what their hair looks like, what the timbre of their voice is, what mannerisms are part of their personalities etc. (Sometimes though, when there are multiple characters in a conversation, it could get rather hard to keep up playing everyone!)
What advice would you give other writers?
Don't be afraid to pen down your thoughts. The first draft is meant to be messy and possibly grammatically incorrect! But that's what editing and proof-reading is for. Having beta-readers is an invaluable resource – find people you trust who will give you constructive feedback.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I am very new to writing books and quite frankly, didn't have the connections to big publishing houses. So, I decided to self-publish. The type of platform you choose to publish/self-publish really depends on your budget and what they are offering within that budget.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
There are still people in the world that like holding a physical copy of a book. More and more people though are opting for digital versions. In any case, I do think that we will continue to have readers, and so we will continue to write and publish!
What genres do you write?: Children's fiction/fantasy
What formats are your books in?: Print
Website(s)
Ramya S. Kapadia Home Page Link
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
