Shyamali Perera was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. . Fleeing the Sri Lankan civil war, Perera and her family emigrated to California in 1989. She trained as a teacher at UCI and UCLA and worked as an educator for thirty years in Orange County. Since retiring from full-time childcare, Perera has dedicated herself to writing, with two children's books in publication and four due for release soon. Perera published Curry & Rice: Three Generations of Sri Lankan Recipes as an eBook in 2014 and a paperback in 2020, to coincide with the release of her Sri Lankan Style series of seven cookbooks. Perera lives in Southern California with her family and is currently working on her next children's book.
