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Leela Soma - Revision history
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DebbieLemke: Starting Stub
2025-10-13T13:56:23Z
<p>Starting Stub</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian-Scottish writer}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}<br />
{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Leela Soma<br />
| birth_place = [[Chennai|Madras]]<br />
| death_date = December 2022<br />
| occupation = Writer, poet<br />
| works = ''Twice Born''<br />
| website = http://www.leelasoma.com<br />
}}<br />
'''Leela Soma''' was a Scottish-based writer who was born in Madras<ref>{{cite news|title=Writer's story makes it into The Scotsman|url=http://www.milngavieherald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/writer-s-story-makes-it-into-the-scotsman-1-3465711|accessdate=30 March 2016|work=Milngavie and Bearsden Herald|date=3 July 2014|quote=Born in Madras, now Chennai, the biggest city in South India, Leela always remembers her roots fondly.}}</ref> (former name for [[Chennai]]) in India, and lived in [[Glasgow]].<br />
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== Biography ==<br />
Leela Soma came to Glasgow in 1969 with her husband.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Nanjiani|first1=Shereen|title=Leela Soma Extended Interview|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02f3vgp|publisher=BBC|access-date=2 April 2016|date=13 December 2014}}</ref> She worked, until her retirement, as a teacher of Modern Studies. During this time she took up creative writing under the tutelage of [[Laura Marney]]. She followed this with Creative Writing Classes in the Department of Adult and Continuing Education at the [[University of Glasgow]].<br />
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== Her work 2007 - 2016 ==<br />
She wrote novels, poetry and short stories which have been published in a number of anthologies and publications, including [[The Scotsman]], The Grind,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://the-grind.co.uk|title=The Grind Magazine|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref> New Voices, and [[Gutter magazine]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guttermag.co.uk|title=Gutter Magazine|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref> magazine. 'Twice Born' was published through [[Youwriteon]] an online publishing company.’ Her second novel ‘Bombay Baby’ was published by Dahlia Publishing Limited in 2011.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Saadi|first1=Suhayl|title=Book review: Bombay Baby|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/book-review-bombay-baby-1-2071469|accessdate=30 March 2016|work=Scotsman|date=22 January 2012}}</ref> ‘She was commissioned along with 20 other writers to write a story for [[Glasgow Women's Library]] anthology, ''21 Revolutions'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://womenslibrary.org.uk/event/21-revolutions-art-exhibition-edinburgh/|title=Upcoming Events {{!}} 21 Revolutions art exhibition, Edinburgh {{!}} Glasgow Women's Library|website=womenslibrary.org.uk|access-date=2016-03-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=21 Revolutions - Boxed In|last=Soma|first=Leela|publisher=Freight Books|year=2014|isbn=978-0-9522273-3-5|location=Glasgow|pages=62}}</ref> for its 21st birthday in 2013. Her story 'Boxed In' was inspired by three items from the collections "The Suffragette Movement" by [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]; 'Traitors to the Masculine Cause: the Men's Campaign for Women's Rights by Sylvia Strauss and a copy of 'The Woman Worker' of 1908. She was part of ‘Butterfly Rammy,’ an [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] Show (2015) <ref>{{cite web|last1=Dunlop|first1=Bill|title=Butterfly Rammy, Stand in the Square, Review|url=http://www.edinburghguide.com/festival/2015/edinburghfringe/butterflyrammystandinthesquarereview-16035|website=EdinburghGuide.com|accessdate=6 April 2016|date=18 August 2015}}</ref> for which she was commissioned to write a short story. Her next work (2016) was a crime novel set in Glasgow’s West End. She has served on the committee for the [[Milngavie]] Books and Arts Festivals, and also on the Scottish Writer’s Centre Committee. Her work reflects her dual heritage of India and Scotland.<br />
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== Awards ==<br />
She won the Margaret Thomson Davis Trophy at Strathkelvin Writer’s Group for Best New Writer 2007 for her novel ‘Twice Born'.<ref>{{cite web|title=SKW People|url=http://www.strathkelvinwriters.org/people.html|publisher=Strathkelvin Writer's Group|accessdate=30 March 2016}}</ref><br />
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== Publications ==<br />
*Twice Born published by You Write On 2007<br />
*Bombay Baby published by Dahlia Publishing Limited 2011<br />
*Boxed In published by The Pot Hole Press 2013<br />
*Butterfly Rammy 2015<br />
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== Death ==<br />
Leela died in December 2022 after a sudden brief illness. <ref>{{cite web|title=Obituary - Leela Soma|date=4 January 2023 |url=https://www.glasgowworld.com/news/people/obituary-leela-soma-3973353|publisher=©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.|accessdate=12 March 2023}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{Official website|https://leelasoma.wordpress.com}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Soma, Leela}}<br />
[[Category:Scottish writers]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish women writers]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish women novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]</div>
DebbieLemke