Nawaz Merchant is the first Indian-born writer to win the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Award for Best First Crime Fiction. After a long corporate career, she returned to her passion for writing fiction and now teaches at Rutgers-Osher Institute. She also sits on the NY Chapter board of Mystery Writers of America. As a board member of the non-profit Shine and Inspire, Nawaz supports programs that keep homeless and indigent students in school. She is Vice President of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York.
