Priya Swaminathan

Priya Swaminathan lived the dream of making movies and TV shows for 20 years. She produced documentary films for MTV, ESPN, and Netflix, including the Peabody-Award winning film Crip Camp. Beyond non-fiction, she developed films for Spike Jonze, Bennett Miller, and George Clooney and was the Senior Vice President of Development at Annapurna Pictures, where she collaborated closely with the gaming division. She went on to launch Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company. In addition to releasing the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory, she oversaw kids and family programming that included NAACP Image Award winner We The People, Emmy-Award winner Ada Twist, Scientist, and Waffles + Mochi featuring Michelle Obama.

Priya’s debut middle grade novel, Deepa MD and a sequel will be published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Formerly a Creative-in-Residence at MasterClass, she is currently studying nursing at UCLA in the Fall. She lives in Los Angeles with her family and hopes that someday she’ll convince her husband to get a dog.