India has a rich literary tradition, especially in the regional languages. Today, more and more Indian authors are making their mark in the Indian and foreign markets with their interesting, unique and excellent work. Many more authors today write in English, and many novels written in the local languages are also translated into Hindi and English, thus allowing for a wider readership. The opposite is also true. All this means that the Indian literary scene is currently great with many different authors writing in various genres. A number of these authors are active on social media, and use various platforms to communicate with their fans. In this article, we’ve listed 21 of India’s top authors for you to follow on Twitter.
1. Amish Tripathi
Amish Tripathi is one of the first Indian authors to have forayed into the realms of historic – religious – fantasy fiction. He prefers to write in this genre because he is a religious man and worships gods from different religions. With a background in finance, Tripathi published his first book in 2010. He tweets about finance and business, religion, politics and his books. He also occasionally posts links to interesting historical articles.
2. Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh is an editor by profession, so it is not surprising he has made it so far in his writing career. The well-known author of the Ibis trilogy has written both fiction and non-fiction and has won several awards including the Padmashree and Prix Médicis Etranger. He tweets about world politics and events and often links to articles of interest. He also occasionally tweets about literary events.
3. Andaleeb Wajid
With titles such as Kite Strings, My Brother’s Wedding and Blinkers Off under her belt, Andaleeb Wajid’s books are often coming of age stories, and she explores the lives of Muslims and the Muslim culture in India. She mostly tweets personal stuff, but also regularly shares information about her books and occasionally talks about writing.
4. Anjan Sundaram
A journalist by profession, Sundaram worked in the Congo, reporting on the Civil War under dangerous and extremely difficult conditions. He received the Reuters Journalism Prize for his efforts and is author of Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo. He tweets about African issues and affairs as well as world affairs. He also tweets book recommendations on different topics.
5. Anuja Chauhan
Anuja Chauhan has a background in advertising and has worked for 17 years in the industry. Though she began writing in her spare time, she gave up her job and started writing full time in 2010. She writes contemporary romance novels; examples include Those Pricey Thakhur Girls and The House that B.J. Built; the former has even been made into a TV show. She tweets about current affairs and links to interesting articles on Twitter. She also tweets about feminist issues.
6. Ashwin Sanghi
Ashwin Sanghi started off his working life by joining his family business, but began to write on the side. His works combine the theological, historical and thriller genres. His books have become very popular in India, and his name has appeared on Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list. Sanghi likes to tweet proverbs and quotes by eminent personalities. He also tweets links to articles on different topics.
7. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Divakaruni writes books in historical fiction, fantasy and magical realism. She works at the University of Houston in their Creative Writing Program. She works for several organisations for women’s rights and child rights. She helped in the founding of a helpline for South Asian women facing domestic abuse in US, and works with an organisation aiming to spread literacy among Indian children. She tweets regularly about writing with useful tips, about her books and sometimes about current affairs.
8. Devdutt Pattanaik
Devdutt Pattanaik explores the mythology of Hindu epics in his books. He also works as a cultural consultant and does a show on TV where he draws business lessons from the epics. He started writing while working in the healthcare industry, then gave up his job to write full time. He regularly tweets about religion and history. He also shares titbits about his books and from reviews of his books.
9. Jeet Thayil
Jeet Thayil is an artist of many arts. Apart from writing, he also plays the guitar professionally and writes librettos for operas. He writes poetry as well, and also works as an editor. His writing explores modern problems including themes of multiculturalism, faith, drug use, fanaticism, etc. Thayil shares poetry snippets very often on Twitter. He also tweets about literary things and current affairs.
10. Manu Joseph
The author of Serious Men, Manu Joseph has worked as a writer and editor at different magazines and newspapers. His books, which discuss social problems and loss, have won illustrious awards, both at home and abroad. He tweets about politics and current affairs. He also tweets regularly about exposing religious superstition.
11. Meena Kandasamy
A writer, poet, activist and translator, Meena Kandasamy has her fingers in several pies at the same time. Her works focus on the themes of feminism, caste equality and linguistic identity, and has received acclaim for several of her works, including her translations of Periyar. She tweets about culture, history, and politics. She also regularly updates about her personal life, which can only be pleasing to her fans.
12. Mrinal Pandey
With a background in television and journalism, Mrinal Pandey has also worked with the National Commission for Self-Employed Women. She writes books in Hindi and explores the themes of feminism, inequality and oppression in India. Her tweets are mostly in Hindi, and generally about politics. She also tweets snippets from Hindi poetry.
13. Payal Kapadia
Payal Kapadia is an award-winning author of children’s books. Born in Mumbai, Payal’s works include titles such as Wisha Wozzariter and Horrid High. Over on Twitter, Payal posts about her books, shares interesting and inspiring quotes, retweets about books for children and posts links to her interviews.
14. Preeti Shenoy
In addition to being a writer and poet, Preeti Shenoy is also a self-taught artist. Shenoy has worked for publications like The Times of India and Reader’s Digest. Her books are generally light reading in the contemporary romance genre. Her tweets are mostly about her books, book launches and other information related to her work.
15. Rahul Pandita
Rahul Pandita is a journalist who has braved war zones in Iraq and Sri Lanka to write about them. He has also researched the Maoist rebellion in India and the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir and has written about these issues in his books. Rahul’s works include titles such as Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits and Hello Bastar. He tweets about current issues, politics and history. He takes trouble to respond to those who tweet to him.
16. Ramachandra Guha
An acclaimed and often controversial historian and intellectual, Ramachandra Guha worked as a professor in different universities around the world. He has written essays, books and opinion pieces and has an extensive body of work, which explores Indian history, politics, and society as well as cricket and other issues. He tweets extensively about social issues and politics. He also shares interesting links on history and social problems.
17. Ravinder Singh
Working in the tech industry, Ravinder Singh quit his job as a senior program manager to write full time. His first book was an autobiography of his love story about dealing with the grief of a girlfriend who died a few months before their wedding. He then continued to write more books in the same vein about love, loss, and hope. He tweets about his personal life and opinions.
18. Ravi Subramanian
Ravi Subramanian is a banker by profession and has worked in several banks and financial companies in the financial sector. His books are thrillers based in the banking industry. Based in Mumbai, he tweets news items and about current affairs. He also likes to discuss his books with his fans.
19. Sachin Kundalkar
A Marathi screenwriter and film director, Sachin Kundalkar has also written a screenplay for theatre. He is award-winning for his work in the film industry for both his directing and screenwriting. He tweets about movies, poetry, books, and cultural stuff. He also tweets about social problems.
20. Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor is a politician, diplomat, writer and intellectual. His book, The Great Indian Novel, is one of the first political satires written in English in the country. He has a number of fiction and non-fiction works to his credit, exploring the politics, culture and history of India. He likes sharing pictures from the past and present and tweets mostly about politics, current affairs, economics and social issues.
21. Shobhaa De
One of the first writers to write about sex in India in the 90s, Shobhaa De shocked the Indian middle class out of their puritanical complacency. A model and a journalist by profession, she worked with different celebrity magazines over the years. Her books explore the celebrity and socialite culture in the country. She tweets about literary festivals, books, politics and social issues.
Image credit: Keri J on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_20141217_101736441.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kavitha is a freelance content writer and French translator, and has been working in this field since 2008. She has degrees in computer applications and international business and has a background in business and international trade. She enjoys learning languages and is currently learning Japanese. Her interests vary from books and writing to travelling and history.[/author_info] [/author]