Shweta Taneja is an Indian author of novels, short fiction, graphic novels, nonfiction and comic books. Her work includes fantasy fiction series ''The Rakta Queen: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery'', ''The Matsya Curse: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery'', ''Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery'' and books for YA and children including ''The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong'' and ''How to Steal a Ghost @ Manipal''.
Her short story "The Daughter That Bleeds" was published in ''Best Asian Speculative Fiction'' and won the Editor's Choice Award. The story was translated into French under the title ''La Fille qui saigne'', published in Galaxies magazine and was a finalist in the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Awards for 2020 in France.
She wrote the scripts for The ''Skull Rosary'', a five-story graphic novel involving the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
god
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
(published by Holy Cow Entertainment) and ''Krishna: Defender of Dharma'', about the Hindu god
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
(published by Campfire Graphic Novels). She currently lives and works in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
Biography
Shweta Taneja grew up in Delhi, India. She earned a Masters in English Literature from the
Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi, and has a legacy in women's education.
History
Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife ...
,
University of Delhi
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...
and a Masters in Fashion Communication from the
National Institute of Fashion Technology.
Writing career
Taneja's journalist career began with the magazines ''
Femina'' and ''
Men's Health
''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands.
Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...
'' (where she was the Assistant Editor of the India edition). She continues to write for several print and online publications including
''Mint'', ''Discover India'', ''Scroll'' and
''The Huffington Post'' (India).
Her first publication was the ''Krishna: Defender of Dharma'', a
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
about the Hindu god, for which she wrote the script and collaborated with illustrator Rajesh Nagulakonda. In 2013, the graphic novel was recommended for Classes 7 and 8 for schools affiliated to the
Central Board of Secondary Education
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...
, India by the Association of Writers & Illustrators for Children.
''The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong'' was her first novel. It involves a group of twelve-year-olds who solve a mystery in the hill town
Kurseong
Kurseong is a town and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Kurseong subdivision.
Located at an altitude of , Kurseong is from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throughout ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Taneja promoted the novel using a children's detective workshop. Groups of children would solve a mystery within a given time and then draw out their version of the events
''The Skull Rosary'' was Taneja's second graphic novel. She wrote the script and collaborated with five different illustrators for each of the five stories in the novel. It was nominated for Best Writer and Best Cover for the Comic Con India awards 2013.
Her next work was ''Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery'' which is a detective fantasy
novel based in Delhi, India. The protagonist of ''Cult of Chaos'' is Anantya who is a woman tantrist - a practitioner of
Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
. ''Cult of Chaos'' is billed as India's first tantic-detective novel. The novel was launched with a quiz on paranormal and supernatural beliefs in India.
In 2016, Taneja published ''How to Steal a Ghost @ Manipal'' which is as described by ''The Asian Age'' as "A young student turns into a paranormal investigator to impress her boyfriend." The book is published in an ebook format by Juggernaut Books and it was the Taneja's foray into becoming a hybrid author. Her second novel of the Anantya Tantrist Mystery series, ''The Matsya Curse'', was published in 2017. The third novel of the Anantya Tantrist Mystery series, ''The Rakta Queen'', was published in 2018.
In 2016, Taneja was selected for the Charles Wallace India Fellowship (Chichester University, UK). In 2020, Taneja's short story was a finalist in the French Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Awards 2020. The short story is about a dystopian future in India where fertile women are treated as commodities. In 2021 she published a children science book ''They Found What?/They Made What?''.
Bibliography
Novels
Children's Books and Young Adult
Graphic Novels
Short Stories
* "The Songs That Humanity Lost Reluctantly to Dolphins", (Part of an anthology titled ''Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban''
), World Weaver Press, April 2021
*"The Biryani Choke", Eleven Stops to the Present: Stories of Bengaluru (2020)
* "Les Chants que L’Humanité abandonna aux" (translated by Thomas Bauduret), Galaxies No 66 (2020)
* "La Fille qui saigne" (translated by Mikael Cabon)
Galaxies No 58(2019)
* "Grandma Garam's Kitty Party"
Magical Womenedited by Sukanya Venkatraghavan (Hachette India, 2019)
* "Agni's Tattoo", Whose Future is It?", Cellarius Stories (Genesis Thought, 2018)
* "The Daughter That Bleeds"
The Best Asian Speculative Fiction(Kitaab, 2018)
* "It's a Dog's Death" (comic with Vivek Goel)
Were House(Holy Cow Entertainment, 2013)
* "Terror Strikes Back",
Celebrate Holi' (Hachette India, 2013)
References
External links
Shweta Taneja Twitter Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taneja, Shweta
Living people
Indian comics writers
Indian fantasy writers
Indian women journalists
Indian women novelists
National Institute of Fashion Technology alumni
Delhi University alumni
Indian graphic novelists
Novelists from Delhi
Women writers from Delhi
Female comics writers
Indian female comics artists
Year of birth missing (living people)