Nikita Lalwani FRSL is a novelist born in

Kota, Rajasthan Kota (), previously known as ''Kotah'', is a city located in the southeast of northern Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located about south of the state capital, Jaipur, situated on the banks of Chambal River. With a population of over 1.2 ...

and raised in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. Her work has been translated into sixteen languages. She studied English at Bristol University. Her first book, ''

Gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

'' (2007), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Lalwani was nominated as ''Sunday Times'' Young Writer of the Year. In June 2008, she won the inaugural

Desmond Elliott Prize The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receiv ...

for Fiction. She donated the £10,000 prize to human rights campaigners,

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. Lalwani's second book, ''The Village'', was published in 2012 and was selected as one of eight titles for the Fiction Uncovered campaign for the best of British fiction in 2013. Lalwani has contributed to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

''. She has also written for '' AIDS Sutra'', an anthology exploring the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in India. In 2013, Lalwani was a book judge for the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was later a judge for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Prize in 2019. In the same year, she contributed to the anthology ''Resist: Stories of Uprising''. Her novel ''You People'', set in a West London pizzeria where most of the staff are illegal immigrants, was published in 2020 by Penguin and in 2021 by McSweeneys USA. Lalwani co-wrote episode 3 of '' The Outlaws'' with

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer. Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...

for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

/Amazon Studios, which was broadcast on BBC One on 8 November 2021. She lives in North London.

References

External links

Author's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lalwani, Nikita 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Welsh novelists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Indian emigrants to Wales People from Kota, Rajasthan Writers from Cardiff Alumni of the University of Bristol British Jains Welsh novelists Anglo-Welsh novelists Welsh women novelists Indian women novelists Postcolonial literature Utopian fiction Welsh people of Sindhi descent Novelists from Rajasthan Date of birth missing (living people) Recipients of Desmond Elliott Prize