9 Indian Women Authors You Need to Read

Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things has received the Booker Prize. She is also a political activist and is often involved with human and environmental causes.

Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction award in 2006 for her book, The Inheritance of Loss. The book deals with terrorism, globalisation, and immigration.

Shashi Deshpande received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. She wrote her first novel, The Dark Holds No Terror, in 1980. She is also the recipient of the Padma Shri Award.

Sudha Murty received the RK Narayan Award for Literature in 2006. In 2023, she received the Padma Bhushan Award for her social work. Her best stories include How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and The Magic of the Lost Temple.

Kavita Kané's book, Karna's Wife: The Outcast, depicts the story of Karna from her wife's point of view. She is famous for her feminist retellings of Indian mythology.

Meena Kandasamy is a fiction writer, poet, translator, and activist. Her book, When I Hit You, published in May 2017, thrust her into the spotlight.

Anuja Chauhan is known for writing strong female characters. Her most notable books include Battle for Bittora, Those Pricey Thakur Girls, and The Zoya Factor.

Kamala Suraiyya's pen name is Madhavikutty. Her writing covers diverse topics like childcare, women's issues and politics infused with power and hope.

Anita Desai received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her book Fire on the Mountain. Clear Light of Day, published in 1980, is one of her most successful works.