A writer, child-rights activist, and an award-winning actor, Nandana Dev Sen is the author of six children’s books, translated into more than 15 languages globally, and two collections of her translations of the poetry of her mother, Nabaneeta Dev Sen. She grew up in India, England and America, and has starred in 20 feature films from four continents (and in multiple languages). Nandana’s first book Kangaroo Kisses was selected by 320 UK nurseries as a “Book of Excellence,” and her interactive workshops have been loved, in person, by more than 50,000 young people across the world.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University (where she won the Detur Book Prize, as well as the John Harvard Scholarship and Elizabeth Agassiz Award each year) and studying filmmaking at the USC School of Cinema-Television, Nandana worked as a book editor, a screenwriter, an interpreter for refugees, an advocate for child protection, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. The winner of several Best Actress awards, the Wingword Poetry Prize, as well as the Last-Girl Champion Award for lifetime achievement in child protection, Nandana has served on numerous child-rights commissions and juries of global film festivals and international literary prizes (including the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature). As an advocate and ambassador, she has represented such prominent organizations as UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, Operation Smile, RAHI, Apne Aap International, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, to fight against child abuse and to end human trafficking.
Nandana is the Child Protection Ambassador for Save the Children India, a global Author Advocate for Girls' Education for Room to Read, and a Director of the Women’s Refugee Commission, New York, where she chairs the Program and Advocacy Committee.
Nandana's work appears as a special feature in Across Latitude & Language, a global anthology published by Delhi Poetry Slam that celebrates diverse poetic voices. Her inclusion as a renowned writer and public figure adds a distinct brilliance to the collection.