Aruna Papp

The oldest of seven children, Aruna Papp was born in India to a Christian family. Her father, a pastor in the Seventh Day Adventist church, arranged for her and her siblings to attend missionary school, where Aruna managed to obtain a third-grade level education before she was withdrawn and entered into an arranged marriage at the age of seventeen.

At age twenty-one, along with her husband and young children, Aruna emigrated to Canada. Since then, she has earned two graduate degrees, has established a thirty-year long career counselling other South Asian families, and has founded organizations dedicated to assisting women who are victims of domestic violence.

"Unworthy Creature: A Punjabi Daughter's Memoir on Honour, Shame and Love" is Aruna's first book, coauthored with National Post columnist Barbara Kay.