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SHREYA ILA ANASUYA
writer of strange fiction
researcher of the speculative and the sublime
ABOUT ME
I am a writer from Calcutta, India. I write fiction across genres, including and especially fantasy and horror. My work explores – among other things – history, the supernatural, gender, the body, grief, liminal spaces, music and the senses, as well as cultural memory. I am currently a PhD candidate in Cultural History and Creative Writing at King's College London. In other avatars and lives, I have worked as a researcher, editor, journalist, teacher, and performance artist. I am bonded, in this life and beyond, to my baby – a calico cat named Begum.
FICTION
SHE WHO ANSWERS
2023
Magic Has No Borders (HarperTeen)
PLAYING MACBETH AT THE ELECTRA THEATRE ON BEADON STREET
2023
Infinite Constellations: Speculating Us
DEMIMONDE
2022
Deep Dives
MOTHER MOTHER
2022
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
AN ARRAY OF WORLDS AS A ROSE UNFURLING IN TIME
2021
Strange Horizons
ENCOUNTERS WITH WOLVES,
IN THREE ACTS
2021
Cup and Dagger,
Sword and Kettle Press
GUL
2019
Magical Women, Hachette India
Reprinted in A Case of Indian Marvels: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers, Aleph Book Company (2022)
NEWS
A CASE OF INDIAN MARVELS
I'm pleased to share that my GUL (first published in MAGICAL WOMEN, Hachette India) is now out in A CASE OF INDIAN MARVELS: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers, by the Aleph Book Company. The story is dedicated to Saleem Kidwai, who introduced the stage adaptation of the story in Lucknow, where the story is set, and who supported it with his characteristic generosity.
THE INVENTION OF UMRAO
An essay on my newsletter, A Rose on the Threshold, in which I delve into literature, cinema and women’s performance history to understand the fictional courtesan Umrao Jaan, one of the most enduring heroines in the South Asian imagination.
STORY OUT IN FSF
My story about grief, goddesses, a forest and a girl, 'Mother Mother', is out in the May/June 2022 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
BSFA LONGLIST
I'm thrilled to share that my portal fantasy 'An Array of Worlds as a Rose Unfurling in Time' is now longlisted for the BFSA Awards 2021!
HONOURS
OTHERWISE FELLOWSHIP
2020
SANGAM HOUSE RESIDENCY
2019
TOTO AWARD FOR CREATIVE WRITING
2019
UNFPA/POPULATION FIRST LAADLI MEDIA AWARDS
2015-2017
"...absolutely marvelous: beautiful, wrenching, hopeful, and infused with both love and magic. A short story that feels like an epic love story... the prose is exquisite."
Maria Haskins
for 'An Array of Worlds as a Rose Unfurling in Time', Strange Horizons
“A poetic dance across the dividing line of urbanity and wilderness, unearthing a feral magic hiding just out of sight of the mundane.”
Indra Das, author of The Devourers
OTHER LIVES
Essays, Reportage, Editing, and More
RESEARCH
I have worked with organisations such as Quicksand, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and the Centre for Internet and Society as a researcher. My outputs have included reports and narrative essays on gender and surveillance, the intersections between reproductive rights and disability justice, and more.
SKIN STORIES
An award-winning digital publication – and an anthology of essays – about disability and chronic illness, which I edited for Point of View.
WOMEN PERFORMERS
A dilruba, in Urdu, is a woman who steals hearts. Dastaan-e-dilrubai is my series for Firstpost about women performers from South Asian history.
REPORTAGE
Writing, research and journalism on history/politics, gender/sexuality, and technology/society. Widely published in India and beyond.
PERFORMANCE
'Gul' was adapted for the stage – with live music by Vidhya Gopal and kathak dance by Shinjita Roy, and dramaturgy/direction by Lopamudra Chatterjee. I narrated. We performed it across five cities in India.
TEACHING AND SPEAKING
I have taught and spoken at a number of universities and festivals, including KC College, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Ashoka University, SNDT Women's University, and for organisations such as Oxfam. I teach workshops on creative writing and editing.