Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani’s first novel, "The School for Good & Evil," debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List, has been on ABA’s National Indie Bestseller List for 12 weeks, has been translated into languages across six continents and will soon be a major motion picture from Universal Studios, produced by Joe Roth ("Snow White & the Huntsman," "Alice in Wonderland," "Oz the Great & Powerful") and Jane Startz ("Tuck Everlasting," "Ella Enchanted").

Soman is a graduate of the MFA Film Program at Columbia University and the recipient of the school’s top prize, the FMI Fellowship for Writing and Directing. His short films, DAVY & STU and KALI MA, have played over 150 international film festivals, won over 30 jury and audience awards, and racked up over 1,000,000 YouTube hits. His writing awards include honors from Big Bear Lake, the Sun Valley Writer’s Fellowship, and the coveted Shasha Grant, awarded by a jury of international film executives. He was also nominated for a NewNowNext Award, sponsored by MTV.

Before joining the Columbia University film program, Chainani graduated Harvard University summa cum laude, with a degree in English & American Literature. While at Harvard, he focused on fairy tales and wrote his thesis on why evil women make such irresistible fairy-tale villains, winning the Thomas Hoopes Prize and Briggs Prize for his work.

When he’s not telling stories on the page or on film, Soman is a die-hard tennis player and fan. Competing in tournaments around the world, he never lost a first-round match for ten years…until he started writing "The School for Good & Evil."