Riya Gupta is a storyteller based in Vancouver, Canada, although she prefers to write under her pen name Lia Gray. She has always had a passion for writing stories specialising in fantasy, literary, adventure and romance. Her childhood years were spent engrossed in a world of books, so when she wasn’t reading she was writing. At the age of 9, she declared her intentions of becoming an author. After writing two “novels” that were better off as paperweights during middle school, she finished her debut YA novel, Incipient, in high school and self published it in 2022. As of the moment, she is working on her fourth novel, Word of Honor.
Aside from her three novels, she’s written over 100 literary pieces that are a mix of flash fiction, short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction and plays. Her works have been featured in university publications such as the Paper Shell Student Anthology and Inkwell Magazine. She has an Instagram account under the name @liagraybooks where she occasionally posts some flash fiction, although the account is typically used to fawn over her favourite novels. Currently, she is pursuing a dual degree in Creative Writing and English as her Bachelor of Arts from UBC.
A few interesting facts:
Favorite Books: Enid Blyton, The Do Over, You’ll be the Death of Me, My family and other animals, The Folk of the Air series, I am not Jessica Chen, Caraval. The list goes on. PJO all the way, with Magnus Chase a close second. I’ve read every single Shadowhunter novel there is to exist and Ann Liang is literally my idol.
Weird Abilities: I can have entire conversations with myself, something I seem to do quite a lot. It’s probably not healthy but hey, maybe it’s why I’ve always been good at spelling tests. Oh and zoning out. I’m really good at that.
Music Choices: I’m a music writer. It sounds cool, but the term simply means I am actually incapable of writing without listening to songs. Some of my favorite artists are Gracie Abrams, Hozier, Fallout Boy, Odetari, Stray Kids, IVE. Hopefully, you get the gist.
Recreational Activities: When not writing, I enjoy reading books from my local library immensely, listening to music at dangerously high volumes or hunting for new cafes that sell matcha. I tend to find inspiration in my everyday mundane life and the people I encounter, so I’m always excited to connect with fellow writers and readers! Moreover, I can also often be found trying to convince my orange cat to bask in my company. My efforts so far, however, have proved futile…
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