Nikesh Shukla (born 8 July 1980) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

author and screenwriter. His writing focuses on race, racism, identity, and immigration. He is the editor of the 2016 collection of essays '' The Good Immigrant'', which features contributions from Riz Ahmed,

Musa Okwonga Musa Okwonga (born 11 October 1979) is a British author, podcaster, and musician. Early life and education Okwonga's parents, medical students, fled Uganda under Idi Amin's dictatorship and settled in the UK. He is the eldest of four children w ...

, Bim Adewunmi, and Reni Eddo-Lodge, among others. With Chimène Suleyman, he co-edited the 2019 follow-up collection called ''The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect On America''.

Early life and career

Shukla was born to Indian immigrants in the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

suburb Harrow. He attended Merchant Taylors' school in Northwood, leaving in 1996, then Dr. Challoner's Grammar School.

Career

Literature

Shukla is the author of four novels: ''Coconut Unlimited'' (2010), ''Meatspace'' (2014), ''The One Who Wrote Destiny'' (2018), and ''The Council of Good Friends'' (2020). He is also the author of two books for Young Adults: ''Run, Riot'' (2018) and ''The Boxer'' (2019). In 2017 he one of was one of the co-founders of the Jhalak Prize awarded annually to British or British resident writers of colour. In 2019 he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

. He was a Rathbones Folio Prize Mentor in 2019–2020. ''Brown Baby'', a memoir addressed to his young daughter, was published in 2021. He hosts a podcast of the same name.

Film

Shukla co-wrote the short film ''Two Dosas'' with Sarmad Masud. It starred Himesh Patel. After

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Shallow Grave (1994 film), Shallow Grave'' (1994), ''Trainspotting (film), Trainspotting'' (1996) and its sequel ''T2 Tra ...

awarded the film Best Short at the 2017 Shuffle Festival, Boyle cast Patel in the title role of Jack in '' Yesterday'' (2019).

Journalism

Shukla has been a columnist for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

''s magazine supplement and ''The Pool''.

Radio and podcasts

In January 2019, Shukla appeared in series 47 of the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

show ''

Great Lives ''Great Lives'' is a BBC Radio 4 biography series, produced in Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the re ...

'', nominating Pakistani wrestler The Great Gama (1878–1960). Shukla hosted a podcast called ''The Subaltern podcast'', in which he has conversations with writers about writing. He also co-hosted a podcast called ''Meat Up, Hulk Out'' with sci-fi writer James Smythe.

Selected works and publications

Books

* * * * * * *

Collections

* * *

Other work

* * *

Filmography

* 2014: ''Two Dosas'' (short film) - co-writer * 2011: ''Kabadasses'' (TV series)

Honours

* 2010:

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

, first novel, short-list for ''Coconut Unlimited'' * 2010:

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 ...

, long-list for ''Coconut Unlimited'' * 2014: Aspen Shortsfest's "Best Comedy" Short Film for ''Two Dosas'' * 2013: Sabotage Awards, Best Novella for ''The Time Machine'' * 2014: London Calling Plus "Jury Award" for ''Two Dosas'' * 2014: Shuffle Festival, Best Short for ''Two Dosas'' * 2016:

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

Human Rights Award, shortlist * 2016:

Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards The Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards are annual literary awards presented by the Booksellers Association in the UK and Ireland since 2016. They are sponsored by National Book Tokens. History and administration The awards were launched at the 201 ...

, reader's choice for ''The Good Immigrant'' * 2016: British Book Awards, Book of the Year short-list for ''The Good Immigrant'' * 2016: ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...

''s 100 most influential people in publishing * 2016: ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

''s 100 Global Thinkers * 2019: ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, one of the twelve leaders shaping the next generation of artists * 2019: CrimeFest Awards, Best YA for ''Run, Riot'' * 2019:

National Book Awards The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

, short-list for ''Run, Riot'' * 2019:

, Fellow * 2021: Declined offer of MBE for services to literature in the Queen's birthday honours list.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shukla, Nikesh 1980 births Living people British writers of Indian descent English male novelists English people of Indian descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood People from Harrow, London Writers from the London Borough of Harrow