Annie Zaidi

Annie Zaidi (born 1978) is a writer from India. Her collection of essays, Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2010. In addition to essays, she also writes poetry (Crush, 2007), short-stories (The Good Indian Girl, 2011), plays and has published a novella.

Annie obtained her B.A. degree from Sophia College in Ajmer. During her time there, she wrote plays for the college cultural festivals and wrote poetry. Keen on pursuing writing as a career, after her graduation she joined the journalism course at Xavier Institute of Communications in Mumbai.

She was born in Allahabad. She and her older brother were brought up by their mother Yasmin Zaidi, a school teacher and principal. Writing genes run in the family. Yasmin wrote poetry for newspapers and Annie's maternal grandfather is Padma Shri laureate and much feted Urdu writer and scholar Ali Jawad Zaidi.

She currently resides in Mumbai.

Annie Zaidi's first collection of essays, Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2010. P. Sainath has said of the book, "The stories on dalits in the Punjab easily rank amongst the best done on the subject" and "Above all, it is the quality of the story-telling that grips you. A beautifully written book".

In July 2014, Harper Collins India released its third collaboration with Annie, this time a novella. Titled "Gulab", the story is an eerie romance between a living man and a ghost.

Her collection of short stories Love Stories # 1 to 14, published by Harper Collins India in 2012, is "a look at love, straight in the eye, to understand the alluring nature of the beast".

Another collection of short-stories, The Good Indian Girl was co-authored along with Smriti Ravindra and published by Zubaan in 2011. Crush, a series of 50 illustrated poems (in collaboration with illustrator Gynelle Alves) was published in 2007.

Her essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including Dharavi: The City Within (Harper Collins India) Mumbai Noir (Akshic/Harper Collins India), Women Changing India (Zubaan); Journeys Through Rajasthan (Rupa) First Proof: 2 (Penguin India), 21 Under 40 (Zubaan), India Shining, India Changing (Tranquebar). More of her work has appeared in literary journals like The Little Magazine, Desilit, Pratilipi, The Raleigh Review, Mint Lounge, Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi) and Asian Cha.

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