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.

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".

Her collection of short stories Love Stories # 1 to 14, published by Harper Collins India, 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 "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.

Playwright
Her play ‘Jaal’ (Hindi) opened at Prithvi Theatre in January 2012 as part of Writers Bloc: 3, a drama festival in Mumbai.

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.

Her first full-length script ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’ was short-listed for The Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award, 2009.

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

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.

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

Personal life
Annie Zaidi was born in Allahabad. Writing genes run in the family. Her maternal grandfather is Padma Shri laureate and much feted Urdu writer and scholar Ali Jawad Zaidi.

She currently resides in Bombay.