In Conversation Shobhaa De

Author Samhita Arni sits down with one of India's most outspoken and respected opinion makers Shobhaa De for an in depth conversation about her life and career in writing.

Shobhaa De is one of India’s bestselling authors, with all of her 18 books topping the charts and being translated into multiple languages. Four of her books are course material in the University of London and her work features extensively in comparative literature courses at universities abroad and within India. There are over 100 dissertations on her work in various libraries worldwide and an academic examination of her books, The Fiction of Shobhaa De, features 40 critical essays by academics. She is credited with having given birth to ‘Hinglish’, a heady, irreverent mix of Hindi and English, that spoke to readers in an new way. Shobhaa De was honoured with her own imprint under the Penguin Random House umbrella, SDe Books, that has published important titles such as The 10 Judgments that Changed India.

Samhita Arni’s latest book, The Missing Queen, is a speculative fiction mythological thriller. Sita’s Ramayana, a graphic novel developed with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar, made the New York Times bestseller list. Elle named Samhita one of 20 young upcoming South Asian writers to watch out for.