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SHREYA ILA ANASUYA
writer of strange fiction
researcher of the speculative and the sublime
ABOUT ME
I am a writer and researcher from Kolkata, India. I now live in London, and I write fiction across genres, including and especially historical and fantasy fiction. My work explores – among other things – history, performance, the supernatural, gender, the body, grief, liminal spaces, cultural memory, music and the senses.
I am also a researcher who writes non-fiction, and currently a PhD candidate at King's College London, where I look at the intersection between performance, gender and storytelling in early 20th century South Asia. I am especially interested in gendered performance histories, ephemera, and what (as well as who) is considered worth archiving.
Throughout my career, I have variously worked as an 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
GUEST EDITING
I'm so pleased to share that I'll be guest editing an issue for South Asian speculative fiction magazine Tasavvur in 2025.
Keep an eye on their website for their calls for submission!
R
FORTHCOMING ANTHOLOGY
GUL will be reprinted in a forthcoming anthology edited by AJ Thomas for the Aleph Book Company, called
100 Stories, 100 Writers, 100+ Years. I shall share a link here as soon as one is available!
BANGLA TRANSLATION
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.
My GUL is now out in a new anthology of Bengali queer speculative fiction, called ANYA BASANTER UPAKHYAN (Joydhak Publications, 2024). Thanks to the editors, and to Sunandini Mukherjee, who translated the story.
MAGIC HAS NO BORDERS IS OUT NOW!
For readers in the US, you can now buy this lovely anthology of retold South Asian myth and folklore anywhere books are sold.
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.
THE INVENTION OF UMRAO
An essay on my newsletter, A Rose on the Threshold, in which I delve into literature, cinema and women’s performance history to understand the fictional courtesan Umrao Jaan, one of the most enduring heroines in the South Asian imagination.
Originally commissioned by Ajitha GS for Context/Westland Books, and published as an Amazon Kindle ebook in July 2021.
STORY OUT IN FSF
My story about grief, goddesses, a forest and a girl, 'Mother Mother', is out in the May/June 2022 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
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 AND SUPPORT
BRITISH FORUM FOR ETHNOMUSICOLOGY GRANT
2023
THE GERRY FARRELL
TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP
2023
BSFA AWARDS LONGLIST
2021
THE LONDON ARTS AND HUMANITIES PARTNERSHIP
2021
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."