Jyoti, a story teller and writer since her young days, studied creative writing at Lehman College, which is part of the CUNY system in New York city. She worked as a technical writer and managed a publication department in a software company till she decided to get back to her passion - writing and working with children.

She started Lekha Publishers LLC to market books for children. In addition to having received praise for the stories and book that she has published, she has also enjoyed being a mentor to middle and high school students. She did this as part of her duties as editor of a popular children's online magazine (now in print) and through YMCA Citizen Schools, where she led the 'Write On' program for middle school students. She is now the editor-in-chief of the Balagokulam magazine, which focuses on Hindu children living outside India.

Lekha School of Creative Writing started as an experiment in the summer of 2006 when a friend asked Jyoti to guide her daughter and a few others in the art of writing. The experience that summer made her decide to start the writing school as a subsidiary of her publishing company. The workshop during the summer continued to grow into after-school classes and camps during President's week, spring break, and the summer of 2007. This year, the school is hiring experts in the field of creative writing to guide the increasing number of students.

In the past year, three of her students have won prestigious awards in story writing and other creative works. Now she is proud to announce that five of her students are working towards publishing fictional works in various genre. These books will be published this year, under the imprint of Lekha KidsWrite.

All of our instructors who guide children to write creatively have specialized in creative writing and are published authors or poets. All instructors who teach children to excel in academic communication have taught in schools. All art instructors are experienced artists. The one common thread among these different instructors is that they enjoy being with children and they believe that children can do much more than what we give them credit for.

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