Punita Rice

PUNITARICE.COM

Welcome to the Brown Voices Project

and the World of Jaraan

Welcome to the site of Dr. Punita Rice

Do you want to explore fiction or nonfiction?

Hello,
my Zarouni Girl...

Forbidden love. Ancestral memory. Finding your voice... Start with The River's Daughter—Amazon #1 Bestseller in Folklore and in Asian Myth & Legend, then read its prequel The River Goddess.

Brown Voices
Project

What it actually looks like to be a South Asian American kid in American schools. Explore the Brown Voices Project, and Brown Voices the book—research-backed, and rereleasing 2026.
Brown Voices South Asian American Experiences in Schools Punita Rice

Brown Voices

Out everywhere October 2026

Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools — rereleasing 2026. Based on years of doctoral research into what South Asian American students experience, and what adults keep getting wrong.

Drawing on a national survey of 85 South Asian American adults, in-depth interviews, and original research conducted at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Punita Rice examines what South Asian American students actually experience in U.S. schools — and what teachers, families, and institutions often miss because of assumptions tied to the model minority myth. It’s written for teachers who want to understand the South Asian American students in their classrooms, for parents trying to make sense of what their kids are experiencing, and for South Asian American adults who recognize their own school years in these pages. It’s written for you.
The Rivers Daughter by Punita Rice

The River's Daughter

Amazon #1 Bestseller in Folklore
Amazon #1 Bestseller in Asian Myth & Legend

“Heart-wrenching, beautifully haunting, and empowering... couldn't put this down!”
The River's Daughter is a mythic tale of forbidden love, resistance, ancestral memory, and the magic that stirs beneath the surface.

When Sahira Raazaan discovers powers tied to a mysterious stranger—and the river itself—she must choose between the life she was raised for and the truth in her blood. Inspired by the Punjabi legend of Mirza Sahiba.
The River Goddess: A Prequel of Gods and Mortals and the legend of Naga. Prequel to The River's Daughter by Punita Rice

The River Goddess: A Prequel

A standalone myth of gods and mortals

When Naga, a goddess who leaves the realm of the gods to live among mortals, falls in love with a mortal prince, the other gods grow jealous, and she’s faced with a devastating choice. The mythic, standalone prequel to The River's Daughter, set generations before the story of Sahira Raazaan.

Punita Rice, Ed.D.

Dr. Punita Rice is a former teacher with a doctorate in education. Her book Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools (rereleasing 2026) draws on years of doctoral research into what South Asian American kids actually experience in the classroom, and what adults keep getting wrong. She is also the creator of the Brown Voices Project.

Dr. Rice is also a storyteller. Her novel The River's Daughter is an Amazon #1 Bestseller in Folklore (and #1 Bestseller in Asian Myth & Legend) and is a feminist reimagining of the Punjabi legend of Mirza Sahiba. Its prequel The River Goddess (Top 100 in Fantasy Short Stories) tells the tragic and transformative origin story of the river's power, generations before The River's Daughter.

Punita lives in Maryland with her husband, their boys, and their dog.

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