Annie Zaidi 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. In addition to essays, she also writes poetry, short stories, plays and has published a novella. She won The Hindu Playwright Award in 2018 and the Nine Dots Prize in 2019 that included a cash prize of $100,000 for her work Bread, Cement, Cactus — combining memoir and reportage.
Education
Zaidi 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 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.
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 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 Zaidi, this time a novella. Titled Gulab, it tells the story of an eerie romance between a living man and a ghost. Her collection of short storiesLove 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 Books in 2011. Crush, a series of 50 illustrated poems was published in 2007. Her essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including Dharavi: The City Within, Mumbai Noir, Women Changing India ; Journeys Through Rajasthan, First Proof: 2, 21 Under 40, India Shining, India Changing. More of her work has appeared in literary journals such as The Little Magazine, Desilit, Pratilipi, The Raleigh Review, Mint Lounge, Indian Literature and Asian Cha. In June 2012, Elle magazine named Zaidi as one of the emerging South Asian writers "whose writing we believe will enrich South Asian literature". The list also called 20 under 40 was inspired by Granta′s 20 under 40 list. In 2015, Zaidi published an anthology called Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women's Writing.
Plays and films
Annie's play "Untitled-1" won her The Hindu Playwright Award 2018. Her play Jaal opened at Prithvi Theatre in January 2012 as part of Writers Bloc:3, a drama festival in Mumbai. Another play, So Many Socks, opened at the Prithvi Theatre in September 2012. It was nominated in several categories, including best script, for the prestigious META awards. The play was directed by Quasar Padamsee, who was also nominated for best direction. Her first full-length script, Name, Place, Animal, Thing, was shortlisted for The Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award, 2009. A radio play, Jam, was the regional winner for the BBC's International Playwriting Competition 2011. Zaidi also directed some such as , which is a poetic movie, and a suspense thriller . In 2016, she directed the short filmDecibel that was part of Shor Se Shuruaat, an omnibus of seven short films. She was mentored by film-maker Sriram Raghavan during the making of the movie.
Journalism career
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 Zaidi on a list of Women 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. She also wrote a weekly column for DNA between 2011 and 2013. Zaidi wrote "An open letter to Honey Singh" to protest against the lyrics he uses for women in his songs. Zaidi currently writes a column for The Hindu.
