Jaya Padmanabhan is a journalist, essayist and author. She writes the In Brown Type column for the SF Examiner published every other Sunday, and contributes to Bay Area publications on race, gender, immigration and mental health. Padmanabhan was the editor of India Currents from 2012 to 2016. Padmanabhan's editorials and essays have won the SF Press Club awards consistently from 2013 to 2020. She is the author of a collection of short stories titled "Transactions of Belonging" published in 2014.