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.

Education

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.

Personal life

She was born in Allahabad. She and her older brother were brought up by their mother Yasmin Zaidi, a schoolteacher 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.

Author

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".^[1]

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.

In June 2012, Elle (India) magazine named Annie as one of the emerging South Asian writers "whose writing we believe will enrich South Asian literature".^[2] The list also called 20 under 40 was inspired by Granta's 20 under 40 list.

Playwright

Her play ‘Jaal’^[3]^[4] opened at Prithvi Theatre in January 2012 as part of Writers Bloc:3,^[5] a drama festival in Mumbai.^[6]

Another play 'So Many Socks' (English), opened at Prithvi Theatre in September 2012. It was nominated in several categories including best script, for the prestigious META awards.^[7]^[8] The play was directed by Quasar Padamsee who was also nominated for best direction.

Her first full-length script ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’ was short-listed for The Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award, 2009.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

A radio play, ‘Jam’ was the regional (South Asia) winner for the BBC’s International Playwriting Competition 2011.^[13]

Journalist

Zaidi started her career as a journalist. She has had stints with leading newspapers and magazines such as Mid-Day and Frontline. Her reportage for Frontline allowed to her to develop material for her book Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales. At the same time, she also began writing a blog called Known Turf.

In January 2008, Rouge, a supplement of the Times of India named Annie on a list of Women (under 30) to Watch Out For who are most likely to make an impact through their professions.

She has written for several publications including Caravan, Open, The Hindu, Elle, Forbes India, Femina, Marie Claire, Tehelka and the Deccan Herald.