It started with a Kobe Bryant notebook. Upon first meeting Vanderbilt alumna Aashi Gurijala ‘25, that’s not quite what one would predict the origin of her writing career to have been. Yet, this notebook was her keeper of cherished memories and stories.
“I loved that Kobe Bryant book,” Gurijala said. “I would scribble down fictional stories about my life, things I saw, or anything I thought was cool,” Gurijala said.
Unsurprisingly, then, Gurijala’s writing is based on what she finds inspirational around her.
“I self-published two novels in high school about the brain because I really liked this one topic we were learning in class,” she said. “If you read my books, for better or worse, you’d probably find out a lot of things about me.”
Gurijala has had a strong passion for writing since she was young.
“I was obsessed with Agatha Christie novels as a kid, and a reason I got into writing was because I liked things that surprised me,” she said. “There’s so much power in the written word that’s overlooked because we don’t take words as seriously as people used to.”
Her love of storytelling was apparent to those around her as well.
“Once, I was sitting outside school writing for what I felt was just minutes. Then I looked up, and it was completely dark out,” Gurijala said, “My mom had been watching me. She was so fascinated that she didn’t stop me. That was when she began encouraging me to write seriously.”
Gurijala’s commitment to her writing career deepened when she chose to major in English on the Creative Writing track.
“In high school, I considered writing a hobby. Then I came to Vanderbilt, and my professors did such a great job of helping me discover and hone my existing voice as a writer,” she said. “I was able to try different styles and diversify my writing, which I definitely did not have when I self-published in high school.”
What she learned from her peers and professors helped Gurijala harness the skills she needed to draft and publish her first official book series, Nakshatra.
“Nakshatra means ‘star’ in Telugu, so the first book is called Star Crossed and the second is called Star Burst. I’ve been thinking about Nakshatra since I was 13, so once I got a sense of what I’m capable of doing, I committed to the idea of writing a book series,” she said. “The series is strongly romance-fantasy, and it emphasizes the importance of cross-cultural communication.”
As with all her writing, the series is deeply personal to Gurijala.
“I’m Indian, and I’ve always been fascinated with superheroes, but there isn’t a lot of representation and empowerment of my community in pop culture — nor is Hindu culture reflected in a lot of literature,” Gurijala said. “With Nakshatra, every character is inspired by the three main Hindu gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. While reading, I want people to learn about Hindu mythology without realizing that they are learning.”
Although English has been a significant force for Gurijala, it is not her only passion in life. While at Vanderbilt, she also majored in neuroscience on the pre-MD/PhD track, aiming to become a physician-scientist.
During publishing, balancing these disparate interests created some challenges for Gurijala.
“I had very tight deadlines with my editors, and I was doing a lot of research work at the same time,” she said. “It was hard to balance the two of them out, but it was also rewarding to be simultaneously honing two different skills.”
The sciences and humanities are notoriously at odds with one another, but from her experiences, Gurijala has found key similarities between the two.
“The Venn diagram of sciences and the humanities lies in how both emphasize the importance of rhetoric,” she said. “In order to be applicable to society, science needs to be communicated in a certain manner. The humanities taught me how to relay information in a way that is productive without getting caught up in the weeds of technical writing. Going to conferences and giving presentations is about communicating what you’ve done, and it’s one skill to be able to do the research and another to be able to talk about it.”
Gurijala looks up to Dr. Oliver Sacks, who, like her, was both a scientist and a writer. As she moves forward, she hopes to leave a similar impact on the world with her work.
“Dr. Sacks fictionalized his case studies, which popularized his research and made the complicated science he was doing make more sense. As I continue down this career path, I plan on finishing the Nakshatra trilogy,” She said, “But beyond that, I want my writing to share discoveries and knowledge in a way that is accessible, interesting, and engaging to the general public.”
