SHREYA ILA ANASUYA
writer of strange fiction
researcher of the speculative and the sublime
ABOUT ME
I am a writer from Calcutta, India. I write fiction across genres, including and especially fantasy and horror. My work explores – among other things – history, the supernatural, gender, the body, grief, liminal spaces, music and the senses, as well as cultural memory. I am currently a PhD candidate at King's College London, where I look at the intersection of music/gender and storytelling in early 20th century India. In other avatars and lives, I have worked as a researcher, editor, journalist, teacher, and performance artist. I am bonded, in this life and beyond, to my baby – a calico cat named Begum.
FICTION
SHE WHO ANSWERS
2023
Magic Has No Borders (HarperTeen)
PLAYING MACBETH AT THE ELECTRA THEATRE ON BEADON STREET
2023
Infinite Constellations: Speculating Us
DEMIMONDE
2023
Deep Dives
MOTHER MOTHER
2022
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
AN ARRAY OF WORLDS AS A ROSE UNFURLING IN TIME
2021
Strange Horizons
ENCOUNTERS WITH WOLVES,
IN THREE ACTS
2021
Cup and Dagger,
Sword and Kettle Press
GUL
2019
Magical Women, Hachette India
Reprinted in A Case of Indian Marvels: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers, Aleph Book Company (2022)
NEWS
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL!
I'm delighted to share that I will be talking about my Bonbibi retelling at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, on 12 August 2023. I will be appearing alongside fellow Magic Has No Borders contributors Sangu Mandanna and Nikita Gill, and the panel will be chaired by Hannah Lavery.
A CASE OF INDIAN MARVELS
I'm pleased to share that my GUL (first published in MAGICAL WOMEN, Hachette India) is now out in A CASE OF INDIAN MARVELS: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers, by the Aleph Book Company. The story is dedicated to Saleem Kidwai, who introduced the stage adaptation of the story in Lucknow, where the story is set, and who supported it with his characteristic generosity.
BSFA LONGLIST
I'm thrilled to share that my portal fantasy 'An Array of Worlds as a Rose Unfurling in Time' is now longlisted for the BFSA Awards 2021!
HONOURS
OTHERWISE FELLOWSHIP
2020
SANGAM HOUSE RESIDENCY
2019
TOTO AWARD FOR CREATIVE WRITING
2019
UNFPA/POPULATION FIRST LAADLI MEDIA AWARDS
2015-2017
"...absolutely marvelous: beautiful, wrenching, hopeful, and infused with both love and magic. A short story that feels like an epic love story... the prose is exquisite."
Maria Haskins
for 'An Array of Worlds as a Rose Unfurling in Time', Strange Horizons
“A poetic dance across the dividing line of urbanity and wilderness, unearthing a feral magic hiding just out of sight of the mundane.”
Indra Das, author of The Devourers
OTHER LIVES
Essays, Reportage, Editing, and More
RESEARCH
I have worked with organisations such as Quicksand, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and the Centre for Internet and Society as a researcher. My outputs have included reports and narrative essays on gender and surveillance, the intersections between reproductive rights and disability justice, and more.
"I love the sense of alternate realities, following a hope and a love through the terrors of hate toward something better... a beautiful and moving read."
Charles Payseur
for 'An Array of Worlds as a Rose Unfurling in Time', Strange Horizons
"... (a) tenderly told tale of love and yearning which is one of the highlights of this anthology."