Nikesh Shukla
Born (1980-07-08) 8 July 1980
Harrow, London, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Author
Screenwriter
Years active2010–present
Websitenikesh-shukla.com

Nikesh Shukla FRSL (born 8 July 1980) is a British 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, Bim Adewunmi, and Reni Eddo-Lodge, among others.[1][2] With Chimène Suleyman, he co-edited the 2019 follow-up collection called The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect On America.[3]

Early life and career

Shukla was born to Indian immigrants in the London suburb Harrow.[4] He attended Merchant Taylors' school in Northwood, leaving in 1996.[5]

Career

Literature

Shukla is the author of three novels: Coconut Unlimited (2010),[6] Meatspace (2014)[7] and The One Who Wrote Destiny (2018).[8]

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.[9][10][11]

In 2019 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[12] He was a Rathbones Folio Prize Mentor in 2019–2020.[13]

Brown Baby, a memoir addressed to his young daughter, was published in 2021.[14] He hosts a podcast of the same name.[15]

Film

Shukla co-wrote the short film Two Dosas with Sarmad Masud. It starred Himesh Patel. After Danny Boyle awarded the film Best Short at the 2017 Shuffle Festival,[16] Boyle cast Patel in the title role of Jack in Yesterday (2019).

Journalism

Shukla has been a columnist for The Observer's magazine supplement and The Pool.

Radio and podcasts

In January 2019, Shukla appeared in series 47 of the BBC Radio 4 show Great Lives, nominating Pakistani wrestler The Great Gama (1878–1960).[17]

Shukla hosted a podcast called The Subaltern podcast, in which he has conversations with writers about writing.[18] He also co-hosted a podcast called Meat Up, Hulk Out with sci-fi writer James Smythe.[19]

Selected works and publications

Books

  • Shukla, Nikesh (2010). Coconut Unlimited. London: Quartet. ISBN 978-0-704-37204-7. OCLC 661047464.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2013). The Time Machine. New York: Galley Beggar Press. ISBN 978-1-910-29605-9. OCLC 875097790.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2014). Meatspace. London: Friday Project. ISBN 978-0-007-56508-5. OCLC 1004224836.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2018). The One Who Wrote Destiny. London: Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-786-49280-7. OCLC 1098249965.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2018). Run, Riot. London: Hodder Children's Books. ISBN 978-1-444-94068-8. OCLC 1039899069.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2019). The Boxer. London: Hodder Children's Books. ISBN 978-1-444-94070-1. OCLC 1110445739.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2021). Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home. London: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-529-03291-8. OCLC 1144864045.

Collections

Other work

  • Yates, Kieran; Shukla, Nikesh (2011). Summer of Unrest: Generation Vexed: What the English Riots Don't Tell Us About Our Nation's Youth. London: Vintage Digital. ISBN 978-1-448-11475-7.
  • Shukla, Nikesh (2013). The Time Machine. London: Galley Beggar Press.
  • Heuchan, Claire; Shukla, Nikesh (2018). What is Race? Who are Racists? Why Does Skin Colour Matter? And Other Big Questions. London, England: Wayland. ISBN 978-1526303981.

Filmography

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

Honours

  • 2010: Costa Book Awards, first novel, short-list for Coconut Unlimited
  • 2010: Desmond Elliott Prize, 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 Human Rights Award, shortlist[20]
  • 2016: Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards, reader's choice for The Good Immigrant
  • 2016: British Book Awards, Book of the Year short-list for The Good Immigrant
  • 2016: The Bookseller's 100 most influential people in publishing
  • 2016: Foreign Policy's 100 Global Thinkers [21]
  • 2019: Time magazine, one of the twelve leaders shaping the next generation of artists[22]
  • 2019: CrimeFest Awards, Best YA for Run, Riot[23]
  • 2019: National Book Awards, short-list for Run, Riot[24]
  • 2019: Royal Society of Literature, Fellow[12]
  • 2021: Declined offer of MBE for services to literature in the Queen's birthday honours list.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Parmar, Sandeep (22 September 2016). "The Good Immigrant review – an unflinching dialogue about race and racism in the UK". The Guardian.
  2. ↑ Sandhu, Sukhdev (2 October 2016). "The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla review – racial identity in the UK". The Observer.
  3. ↑ "The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America". Kirkus Reviews. 20 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Sethi, Anita (16 March 2019). "Nikesh Shukla: 'You keep going, you're persistent'". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ "Nikesh Shukla: 'If I'm writing for my daughters, I want them to know who I am'". The Guardian. 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  6. ↑ Holdsworth, Rachel (28 October 2010). "Book Review: Coconut Unlimited By Nikesh Shukla". Londonist.
  7. ↑ Housham, Jane (27 June 2014). "Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla – review". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ "The One Who Wrote Destiny by Nikesh Shukla — gorgeously entertaining". Financial Times. 20 April 2018.
  9. 1 2 Shukla, Nikesh (14 June 2021). "I turned down an MBE – I don't want an honour glorifying the British empire". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "The Jhalak Prize". The Jhalak Prize. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  11. ↑ Kean, Danuta (5 January 2017). "New British books prize for BAME authors unveils inaugural longlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Nikesh Shukla". Royal Society of Literature. 2019.
  13. ↑ "Announcing: the Rathbones Folio Mentors 2019-20". The Rathbones Folio Prize. 2019.
  14. ↑ Sandhu, Sukhdev. "Brown Baby by Nikesh Shukla review - a memoir of race and family". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  15. ↑ Davies, Hannah J. "How to bring up children with joy and wonder - podcasts of the week". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  16. ↑ "Short Film Prize". Shuffle Festival. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  17. ↑ "Great Lives". RadioListings. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  18. ↑ "The Subaltern podcast". Nikesh Shukla.
  19. ↑ Shukla, Nikesh; Smythe, James. "Meat Up, Hulk Out". SoundCloud.
  20. ↑ "Human Rights Awards 2016: Shortlist". Liberty Human Rights. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  21. ↑ "Global Thinkers 2016". foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  22. ↑ Abrams, Abigail; Lang, Cady; Gajanan, Mahita; Greenspan, Rachel E.; Davies, Wilder (7 February 2019). "12 Leaders Who Are Shaping the Next Generation of Artists". Time. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  23. ↑ "The UK's CrimeFest 2019 Honors Shukla, Lippman, Rowling". Publishing Perspectives. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  24. ↑ "Run, Riot". National Book Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
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