Writers at Work

Writers at Work is Writing Studio’s flagship lecture series. It invites eminent writers, novelists, biographers, essayists, and nonfiction authors to discuss the art and craft of writing.

Nev March

Nev March is the first Indian-born writer to win Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America’s Award for Best First Crime Fiction.

After a long career in business analysis, in 2015, Nev returned to her passion, writing fiction, and now teaches creative writing at Rutgers University, Osher Institute. A Parsee Zoroastrian herself, she lives in New Jersey with her husband and sons. Murder in Old Bombay is her debut novel.

Her books deal with issues of identity, race, and moral boundaries. Her sequel, Peril at the Exposition, is set during the 1893 World’s Fair, a time of conflict that planted the seeds of today’s red-blue political divide. The third volume in the series, Spanish Diplomat’s Secret, is set to release in September 2023.

Nev was in conversation with the Writing Studio about her career as a crime fiction author and educator.
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Anil Menon

Anil Menon is an author and editor, best known for his acclaimed work in speculative fiction. His most recent work is The Inconceivable Idea Of The Sun: Stories (Hachette, 2022), a collection of his speculative short fiction. His novel Half Of What I Say (Bloomsbury, 2015) was shortlisted for the 2016 Hindu Literary Award. His debut novel, The Beast With Nine Billion Feet, was shortlisted for the 2009 Crossword Prize and the Carl Baxter Society’s Parallax Award. Along with Vandana Singh, he co-edited Breaking the Bow (Zubaan Books, 2012), an international anthology of short fiction inspired by the Ramayana. His stories have been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Igbo, and Romanian. He is the chief editor of The Bombay Literary Magazine and a co-founder of the annual Kolam Writers’ Workshop. His novel The Coincidence Plot (Simon & Schuster) is scheduled to appear in July 2023.
Anil was in conversation with the Writing Studio about his acclaimed career as a speculative fiction author and literary editor.
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Kevin Missal

Kevin Missal is a national bestselling author and publisher. He is best known for his novels in the Kalki series, the Narsimha trilogy, and the Devi series. He is among India’s most celebrated and widely read authors in the genres of mythology and fantasy fiction. 

Kevin was in conversation with the Writing Studio about his journey as an author and storyteller.

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Saikat Majumdar

Saikat Majumdar is a novelist, academic and a popular commentator on arts, literature, and higher education. He is the author of four novels. He has also published a book of literary criticism, a general nonfiction book on higher education, and a co-edited collection of essays. His latest novel, The Middle Finger was published in January 2022 by Simon & Schuster. Saikat has taught at Stanford University, was named a Fellow at the Humanities Centre at Wellesley College, and is currently Professor of English & Creative Writing at Ashoka University. He writes regularly on higher education, arts and literature for Times Higher Education, The Hindu, and Outlook. He pens “Cheat Sheet”, a biweekly column on college, campus, and academic life on outlookindia.com. Prof Majumdar was in conversation with Ms Swati Joshi (PhD candidate, IITGN) about the craft of writing and his latest novel, The Middle Finger.

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Vikram Chandra

Vikram Chandra is an international bestselling, award-winning novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and nonfiction author. He serves as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the blockbuster multiple-award-winning bestseller Sacred Games, which inspired Netflix India‘s first original International Emmy Awards nominated TV series of the same name. He is also the author of the novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain (winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Best First Published Book), the short story collection Love and Longing in Bombay (winner of the Eurasia Region Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book) and the nonfiction book Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty (Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, USA). He has also co-written the screenplay of the award-winning film Mission Kashmir.

Mr. Chandra was in conversation with the Writing Studio to discuss his journey as a multi-faceted writer par excellence.

Chinmay Tumbe

For its inaugural session, the Writing Studio hosted Prof Chinmay Tumbe. He serves as Assistant Professor in the Economics Area at IIM Ahmedabad. He is the author of two bestselling books: India Moving: A History of Migration (Penguin Viking, 2018) and The Age of Pandemics (1817-1920): How they shaped India and the World (HarperCollins, 2020). Prof Tumbe was in conversation with the Writing Studio to talk about his journey as a bestselling author and academic.

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