Born in 1980 in Royal Oak, Michigan, Kelkar is the daughter of Subhash Kelkar, screenwriter of the 1982 Bollywood film Suraag. Kelkar has worked on the writing teams of films like 3 Idiots (2009) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006). As a children’s author, Kelkar has been honored by the State of Michigan Congress for her contribution to children’s literature. Her books have received awards and recognition in the USA and India. A writer and illustrator of picture books and middle-grade narratives, she writes historical fiction based on India’s Independence Movement and her diasporic experience as an Indian American. Her debut, Ahimsa (2016), was followed by As American as Paneer Pie (2020). Other books include Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame (2021), That Thing About Bollywood (2021), The Many Colours of Harpreet Singh (2019), Bindu’s Bindis (2021), Brown is Beautiful: A Poem of Self-Love (2022), American Desi (2022), My Diwali Light (2022), The Cobra’s Song (2023), and My Name (2023).