I’m Lakshmi G. Iyer, a Tamil American children’s book author, novelist, and essayist. I write about open transracial adoption from the Indian American adoptive parent side. I’m a brown mother raising white children, in contact with both birth families since 2010. My essays press on the money silence, the reverse gaze, and what birth family relationships in open adoption look like sixteen years in rather than in year one. I write at lgiyer.com and at Belonging, Mostly. My books include The Smudged Hyphen, Why Is My Hair Curly?, Why Is My Skin Brown?, A Star Keeps Its Distance, Pearls on Marble, and Saaptacha?.
My essay collection The Smudged Hyphen (2026) traces the arc of a transracial adoptive family through questions of identity, race, and belonging. My novels A Star Keeps Its Distance and Hindsight, and my children’s book Why Is My Hair Curly?, are available wherever books are sold.
My family’s story is the subject of the feature documentary Love Chaos Kin (2025), directed by Chithra Jeyaram.
My writing has appeared in The Hindu, Verve India, Motherwell Magazine, Adoptive Families, and PopSugar. I’ve been featured on NPR’s The Takeaway and BBC Asia.
I attended the Yale Writers’ Workshop in 2018 and hold a certificate in creative writing from The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University.
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What I Write About
- Transracial adoption, from the adoptive parent’s side
- Tamil American identity and life in the diaspora
- Motherhood across cultures and color lines
- The refusal to translate: writing that lets non-English words stand without a gloss
- Belonging, and the work of making a home on the hyphen
Books
- Saaptacha? (2026). Graphic memoir. A memoir in meals about the love that gets served instead of spoken.
- Pearls on Marble (2026). Novel. A contemporary romance set in the wedding kitchens and old mill fortunes of Coimbatore.
- Why Is My Skin Brown? (2026). Middle-grade novel about colorism, identity, and belonging, set between Pennsylvania and Bengaluru. Out July 20 from Red Panda / Westland.
- The Smudged Hyphen (2026). Essay collection on transracial adoption, Tamil American identity, and belonging.
- A Star Keeps Its Distance (2026). Novel following a K-pop music journalist.
- Hindsight (2024). Novel, set between Coimbatore and Pennsylvania.
- Why Is My Hair Curly? (2020). Middle-grade chapter book about identity and family.
Where I’ve Appeared
Broadcast: NPR’s The Takeaway · BBC Asia · BBC Radio UK · LAJA TV
Print & Online: The Hindu · The Week India · Huffington Post · Adoptive Families · Motherwell Magazine · Verve India · PopSugar · Indian Express · Financial Express
Film & Festivals: Love Chaos Kin (2025, dir. Chithra Jeyaram) · CAAMFest 2025 · Prabha Khaitan Foundation · Oxford Book Stores
Recent Essays
- Bring It Home
Sunday evening, the 7 PM bus out of Port Authority. Saathi was waiting at the bus station in Philly a little after nine. My head… Read more: Bring It Home
- Did You Eat?
In early September, I audited my Writing HQ, a folder where I store everything related to writing. There is one children’s book that is finished… Read more: Did You Eat?
- Bleeding Blue
I was up until the wee hours of the morning today. Steve Kornacki had my full attention. I heard the word bellwether way too many… Read more: Bleeding Blue
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Lakshmi Iyer?
Lakshmi G. Iyer is a Tamil American children’s book author, novelist, and essayist based in southeastern Pennsylvania. She writes about transracial adoption, Tamil American identity, motherhood across cultures, and belonging. Her essay collection The Smudged Hyphen was published in 2026.
What does she write about?
Her work centers transracial adoption from the adoptive parent’s side, Tamil American identity and diaspora life, motherhood across color lines, and what she calls the refusal to translate. She writes both creative nonfiction and fiction.
Where can I read her essays?
Her essays are collected on the Essays page and gathered in The Smudged Hyphen (2026). New essays are published here first and go out by email to subscribers whenever she posts.
What books has she published?
Saaptacha? (2026, graphic memoir), Pearls on Marble (2026, novel), The Smudged Hyphen (2026, essays), A Star Keeps Its Distance (2026, novel), Hindsight (2024, novel), and the middle-grade chapter books Why Is My Hair Curly? (2020) and Why Is My Skin Brown? (2026, Red Panda/Westland).
Does Lakshmi use AI in her writing?
Yes, openly, since March 2026. AI is part of my creative process, including, at times, rewriting, and some of that language remains in my self published books with my revisions and editorial decisions. The blog essays are a mix: heaviest use from March to mid July 2026, and since then most posts written directly by me. The full statement is on its own page: How I make this.