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Annie Zaidi (writer)

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Annie Zaidi (born 1978) is an English-language 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.[1][2] She also writes poetry (Crush, 2007), short stories (The Good Indian Girl, 2011), plays, and has published a novella. She won The Hindu Playwright Award in 2018 and the Nine Dots Prize in 2019 for her work Bread, Cement, Cactus.[3][4]

Education

Zaidi obtained her B.A. degree from Sophia College in Ajmer. 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 school teacher and principal. Her maternal grandfather is Padma Shri laureate 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. Noted journalist and author P. Sainath said of the book: "It is the quality of the story-telling that grips you. A beautifully written book".[5]

A collection of short stories, The Good Indian Girl, was co-authored along with Smriti Ravindra and published by Zubaan Books 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 such as The Little Magazine, Desilit, Pratilipi, The Raleigh Review, Mint Lounge, Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi) and Asian Cha.

In June 2012, Elle magazine named Zaidi one of the emerging South Asian writers "whose writing we believe will enrich South Asian literature".[6] In 2015, Zaidi published an anthology called Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women's Writing.[7][8]

Plays and films

Annie's play "Untitled-1" won her The Hindu Playwright Award 2018.[3]

Her play Jaal[9][10] opened at Prithvi Theatre in January 2012 as part of Writers Bloc:3,[11] a drama festival in Mumbai.[12]

Another play, So Many Socks (English), opened at the Prithvi Theatre in September 2012. It was nominated in several categories, including best script, for the prestigious META awards.[13][14] The play was directed by Quasar Padamsee.

Her first full-length script, Name, Place, Animal, Thing, was shortlisted for The Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award, 2009.[15][16][17][18]

A radio play, Jam, was the regional (South Asia) winner for the BBC's International Playwriting Competition 2011.[19]

Zaidi also directed some short movies such as Ek red colour ki love story, which is a poetic movie, and a suspense thriller Ek Bahut Chhoti si Love Story.[20]

In 2016, she directed the short film Decibel that was part of Shor Se Shuruaat,[21] an omnibus of seven short films. She was mentored by film-maker Sriram Raghavan during the making of the movie.[22]

Journalism career

Zaidi started her career as a journalist. She has had stints with leading newspapers and magazines such as Mid-Day and Frontline. She has written for several publications including Caravan, Open, The Hindu, Elle, Forbes India, Femina, Marie Claire, Tehelka and the Deccan Herald.

She also wrote a weekly column for DNA (Daily News and Analysis) between 2011 and 2013.

Zaidi currently writes a column for The Hindu and teaches journalism at the OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Ruskin, Upamanyu in Crossword Awards Shortlist" Archived 23 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Outlook (New Delhi), 28 July 2011.
  2. ^ [1] Archived 4 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Afternoon Despatch
  3. ^ a b "Annie Zaidi wins The Hindu Playwright Award 2018". Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Indian writer Annie Zaidi wins $100,000 global book prize". The Hindu. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Editorial Reviews". Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  6. ^ "From ELLE: The Storytellers". Deepanjana Pal. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  7. ^ Trisha Gupta (20 June 2015). "Book Review – Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women's Writing". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. ^ "What women wrote". The Hindu.
  9. ^ TimeOut (January 2012) Archived 30 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Jaal, TimeOut (March 2012) Archived 12 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Writer's Bloc". britishcouncil.in. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  12. ^ JANHAVI ACHAREKAR. "Off the bloc: Take three". The Hindu.
  13. ^ "SO MANY SOCKS". Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  14. ^ "QTP's 'So Many Socks' nominated for the META awards 2013". mid-day. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  15. ^ The Hindu-Blogs "PLAYWRIGHT AWARD 2009" Archived 3 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Prakash, Koechlin win MetroPlus Playwright Award". The Hindu.
  17. ^ Majumdar, Abhishek; Koechlin, Kalki (2010). Three Plays. ISBN 9780143415589.
  18. ^ "Asking tough questions". The Hindu.
  19. ^ "BBC World Service – Arts & Culture – International Playwriting Competition 2011: Meet the winners". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  20. ^ In Her Words Shambhavi Saxena, "When And Why Do Women Choose To Write? Filmmaker Annie Zaidi Answers This, And More" Archived 28 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, YKA, 15 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Shor Se Shuruaat (2016)". IMDb. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  22. ^ "Annie Zaidi's short film depicts a Mumbai without noise". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  23. ^ https://jgu.edu.in/jsjc/faculty/annie-zaidi/
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