Jeena R. Papaadi is the author of six books: “Rat, Rabbit, Rock!” (novel), “Fumes” (short stories), “Shadows of the Past and other stories” (short stories), “Tales from the Garden City” (short stories), “Temple of Time” (novel) and “Lonely Journeys” (poems). She’s also a staff writer at The Hemlock Journal.

Author profile on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/stores/Jeena-R.-Papaadi/author/B005HG4HMY

Her novel Rat, Rabbit, Rock! was shortlisted under Best Fiction-English category in PVLF 2024 Literature festival.

Jeena’s story ‘Houses of God’ was among the six stories by Indian authors featured in Wisdom of Our Mothers: Indian Edition, published by Familia Books, USA, in 2011. Her story ‘Land of the Pure’ was shortlisted in Juggernaut publishers’ short story contest in 2018. Three of her stories were in the top ten of The MAG India’s story contest in 2010 and are featured in Nude and Other Stories published by The MAG (theMAG.in). Her work is featured or forthcoming in several publications including The Hindu, Borderless Journal, The Hemlock Journal, Dissent Dispatch, The Wise Owl, Kitaab, European Association of Palliative Care, Aksharasthree, etc.

Jeena is based in Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram, India.

Her writing portfolio is at https://linktr.ee/jeenapapaadi

Her weekly newsletter: https://jeenapapaadi.substack.com/ 

Jeena’s Books:

Rat, Rabbit, Rock!

Edition: Paperback & Kindle

Ten-year-old Meera’s world is rocked when her neighbour – who is her friend, sister and mother all rolled into one – is diagnosed with cancer. As Meera struggles to come to terms with the news, an incident at school tosses her into the limelight for the wrong reasons. With no one to guide her, she is on the verge of making one mistake after another, at school and at home.

Can Meera deal with let alone survive the chaos that ensues? Can she redeem herself in her own eyes as well as those of others?

FUMES: Stories

Edition: Kindle

A parasite that feeds on an unsuspecting couple…
A young woman who stares into the face of love and makes a difficult decision…
An old woman who has mastered the art of life…
A twelve-year-old who has made a grave mistake – and has a narrow escape…
A woman who has lost her way, unable to cope with her loss…

FUMES is a collection of stories about ordinary people who experience one extraordinary day in their lives, and how that defines them, or alters them. And how they deal with their fears, mistakes, betrayal, revenge, love and, most importantly, hope.

Shadows of the Past

Edition: Paperback & Kindle

“Shadows of the Past” is a set of stories that deal with coincidences.

A wise person once said, “Coincidences do happen, that’s why they have a name.”

Sometimes these coincidences stop us on our tracks and make us wonder, “Was that really just a coincidence – or did the hand of Destiny strike ever so gently?” We call them ‘eerie’ or ‘uncanny’, or ‘a miracle’ or ‘a stroke of luck’ or ‘fate’.

“Shadows of the Past” takes you to the crossroads where coincidence meets luck, miracle meets destiny, on the thin line between the strange and the eerie. Maybe those incidents are indeed mere coincidences, and there is nothing inexplicable about them. I leave you to judge.

Temple of Time

Edition: Kindle

Abhijeet was ten years old when his elder brother was lost, believed dead, during a college tour in the hills of Northern Kerala. Twelve years later, Abhijeet is knocked out of his dull and mundane life by an eerie dream in which his brother calls out to him.

Soon afterwards, Abhijeet finds to his shock that his brother is still alive, but in a horrifying condition and on the verge of death, at the very same place he was last seen. Abhijeet is left with a curious last message that he tries to decipher, for he feels the answer to his brother’s disappearance lies in it.

He embarks on a journey to the past, to piece together the events that led to the fateful day years ago, seeking to discover his brother’s footprints and finding himself in the process.

Lonely Journeys

Edition: Kindle

An anthology of Poems about life, nature and everything that entwines us.

Tales from the Garden City

Edition: Kindle

Based broadly in Bangalore, Tales from the Garden City tells everyday stories from the lives of ordinary folks. Most of the short stories in this collection have the backdrop of Bangalore; however they might as well be stories from any Indian city.

Recently Published Work

Stories: The Stranger (Borderless Journal). The Masterpiece (Kitaab)

Poems: Caged (Aksharasthree), Sundowning (Daily Verse, The Wise Owl, July 8, 2025), Existential (Daily Verse, The Wise Owl, Dec 22, 2025) and Freedom is an illusion (The Hemlock Journal Issue 8).

Essays / CNF: Soothing Touch (the Hindu) and Are you people friendly? (Usawa Literary Review’s Dissent Dispatch).

Regular Byline in the Hemlock Journal

Jeena’s poem, The Person on the Bed, which was first published in the blog of the European Association of Palliative Care in Nov 2024, also found a home in the Wales National Policy on DNACPR, 5th Edition, Pages 47 & 48.

To read more of her work, please visit: https://linktr.ee/jeenapapaadi

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