Writing in English

Tapan Kumar Pradhan

b. 1972writer

Kishori Charan Das

1924–2004Odia writer

Sitakant Mahapatra

b. 1937writer from Odisha

R. K. Narayan

1906–2001English-language writer (1906–2001)

Annada Shankar Ray

1905–2002writer, poet, essayist (1905-2002)

Amitav Ghosh

b. 1956writer

Chittaranjan Das

1923–2011Odia-language writer (1923-2011)

Satyajit Ray

1921–1992filmmaker and writer (1921–1992)

M. T. Vasudevan Nair

1933–2024author, screenplay writer and film director (1933–2024)

Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar

1872–1947Writer Novelist, historian, philosophical and political person

Amrita Pritam

1919–2005novelist, poet, and essayist (in Hindi and Punjabi languages) (1919–2005)

Girish Karnad

1938–2019playwright, theatre personality (1938–2019)

Rahul Sankrityayan

1893–1963Buddhist scholar, polyglot and travel writer (1893–1963); 'Father of Hindi travel literature'

Abu Sayeed Ayyub

1906–1982literary critic, philosopher, poet

Balwant Gargi

1916–2003dramatist and theatre director (1916-2003)

Chitra Mudgal

b. 1944Indian, Hindi language writer

Ghulam Nabi Gowhar

1934–2018Kashmiri writer (1934-2018)

Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir

1899–1976Punjabi poet and Politician (1899-1976)

Jayanta Mahapatra

1928–2023poet and writer from Odisha

Jerry Pinto

b. 1966poet and writer

K. Sachhidanandan

b. 1946poet, linguist and translator

Mohapatra Nilamani Sahu

1926–2016Odia writer

Sanjib Chattopadhyay

b. 1936writer

Satya Vrat Shastri

1930–2021Jnanpith Award recipient in Sanskrit. Indian academic

Sitanshu Yashaschandra

b. 1941Gujarati poet

Sugathakumari

1934–2020poet and activist (1934-2020)

V. K. Gokak

1909–1992writer (1909–1992)

Surendra Pavuluri

b. 1996author, known for the 21-volume Mahabharata Saga retelling and the 29-book philosophical cosmology series The Dawn of Creation.

Thamizhpparithi Maari

b. 1974academician, writer and wikipedian

Aurobindo Ghosh

1872–1950Bengali philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet and nationalist (1872–1950)

Gopi Kottoor

b. 1956poet

Ranjit Hoskote

b. 1969contemporary English language Indian poet, translator, art-critic and curator

Sukumar Sen

1900–1992linguist (1900–1992)

Yashodhara Mishra

b. 1951writer in English and Hindi

Bishnu Dey

1909–1982writer and poet (1909-1982)

Ramachandra Guha

b. 1958historian and writer from India

Vikram Seth

b. 1952novelist and poet

M. Night Shyamalan

b. 1970American filmmaker (born 1970)

Arundhati Roy

b. 1961novelist, essayist, and activist

Basant Kumar Satpathy

1913–1994academic and Odia-language writer

Jeet Thayil

b. 1959writer

Shahnaz Habib

poet, writer and columnist

Shashi Deshpande

b. 1938writer

Amish Tripathi

b. 1974writer

Phani Mohanty

b. 1944Odia poet

Allan Sealy

b. 1951writer

Amit Chaudhuri

b. 1962contemporary Indian-English novelist

B. N. Krishnamurti Sharma

1909–2005Sanskrit writer

Esther David

b. 1945Jewish author, artist and sculptor

G. N. Devy

b. 1950social activist, political writer, literary critic and academic (born 1950)

H. S. Shivaprakash

b. 1954writer

Indra Bahadur Rai

1927–2018Nepali writer and literary critic (1927-2018)

Irawati Karve

1905–1970sociologist, anthropologist, educationist, and writer (1905-1970)

Jayant Narlikar

1938–2025astrophysicist and writer (1938–2025)

K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar

1908–1999writer, vice-chancellor

K. V. Tirumalesh

1940–2023writer

Keki N. Daruwalla

1937–2024English language poet

Kiran Nagarkar

1942–2019writer (1942–2019)

Mamang Dai

b. 1957journalist, author, poet

Manik Godghate

1937–2012writer and poet

Meenakshi Mukherjee

1937–2009litterateur

Mridula Garg

b. 1938writer

Mulk Raj Anand

1905–2004English writer (1905–2004)

Nayantara Sahgal

b. 1927writer (born 1927)

O. V. Vijayan

1930–2005author and cartoonist (1930-2005)

Radharaman Mitra

1897–1992politician and writer

Rajmohan Gandhi

b. 1935historian, biographer and academic (born 1935)

Rupa Bajwa

b. 1979writer

Ruskin Bond

b. 1934writer of British descent (born 1934)

Shashi Tharoor

b. 1956politician, diplomat, author

Shyam Sundar Besra

b. 1961Santali Poet

Smita Nair Jain

b. 1969business executive

Sunetra Gupta

b. 1965novelist and epidemiologist

Temsüla Ao

1945–2022writer (1945–2022)

Uday Prakash

b. 1952journalist, author and film producer

Verrier Elwin

1902–1964British anthropologist (1902-1964)

Arun Kolatkar

1932–2004writer (1932-2004)

Bhai Randhir Singh

1878–1961Sikh leader and Punjabi author (1878–1961)

Hussain Zaidi

b. 1968writer (b. 1968)

Poornachandra Tejaswi

1938–2007writer (1938–2007)

Prabhakar Mandaara

b. 1950

Arundhathi Subramaniam

b. 1973poet

Baidyanath Misra

1920–2019economist, educationist, author and administrator

C. Rajagopalachari

1878–1972politician and activist (1878–1972)

George Onakkoor

b. 1941writer

Gopi Chand Narang

1931–2022theorist, literary critic and scholar (1931–2022)

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

b. 1983Santhal English-language Indian author

Inderjeet Kesar

b. 1946Noted Dogri fiction Writer Sahitya Akademi award Winner

Janice Pariat

b. 1953writer

Namita Gokhale

b. 1956writer

Rupchand Hansda

d. 2024author of Santali

Sarojini Sahoo

b. 1956(Odia) Writer

Saumya Joshi

b. 1973Gujarati language poet and dramatist

Srinivasa Rao Srirangam

1910–1983Telugu poet and lyricist (1910–1983)

Tala Tudu

b. 1975Award Winning Indian Santhali writer and translator

Tavleen Singh

b. 1950journalist

Venita Coelho

b. 1966writer from Goa

A. K. Ramanujan

1929–1993linguist (1929-1993)

Abraham Verghese

b. 1955American physician, teacher, novelist

Arjun Charan Hembram

b. 1952Santali poet

Arun Joshi

1939–1993writer

Ashwin Sanghi

b. 1969contemporary writer

D. R. Nagaraj

1954–1998writer, critic

Dilip Chitre

1938–2009writer, painter and filmmaker (1938-2009)

Dom Moraes

1938–2004English-language writer and poet (1938–2004)

Jawaharlal Nehru

1889–1964Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964

Jhumpa Lahiri

b. 1967American author of Indian origin (born 1967)

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi

1887–1971independence movement activist, politician, writer and educationist (1887-1971)

Maitreyi Devi

1914–1989Bengali poet and novelist (1914–1989)

Nirad C. Chaudhuri

1897–1999Bengali−English writer and man of letters (1897–1999)

Nissim Ezekiel

1924–2004poet (1924–2004)

Parvez Sharma

b. 1973film director and journalist

Raja Rao

1908–2006Indian-born English writer (1908–2006)

Rama Mehta

1923–1978sociologist and writer

S. R. Ranganathan

1892–1972mathematician and librarian (1892–1972)

Surender Mohan Pathak

b. 1940writer

Syed Abid Husain

1896–1978educator and philosopher (1896-1978)

Vandana Shiva

b. 1952philosopher, activist and environmentalist (*1952)

Sita Ram Goel

1921–2003activist, writer and publisher (1921–2003)

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

1892–1977Islamic scholar, philosopher, writer, critic, researcher, journalist and exegete of the Quran (1892–1977)

Anita Nair

b. 1966writer

Anupama Chopra

b. 1967film critic

Chetan Bhagat

b. 1974writer

Deepak Chopra

b. 1946Indian-born American author and alternative-medicine advocate, physician and public speaker

Jaswant Singh

1938–2020politician and retired army officer (1938–2020)

Khushwant Singh

1915–2014author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician (1914–2014)

M. P. Parameswaran

1935–2026physicist

Manav Kaul

b. 1976theatre director, playwright, actor, filmmaker and author

Sarojini Naidu

1879–1949poet, politician, governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from1947 to 1949

Subhadra Sen Gupta

1952–2021writer

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

b. 1951Indian-American neuroscientist

Budhichandra Heisnamba

Manipuri author who won Sahitya Akademi Award 2018

Mohanjit

1938–2024Punjabi poet

Edwin Sam K Reju

b. 2009software developer, author, and entrepreneur; founder and CEO of CarbonIt Labs

Kota Venkatachalam

1885–1959Telugu, English writer, historian

Amartya Sen

b. 1933economist and philosopher (1933-)

Ashok Banker

b. 1964writer

Ashwini Bhatt

1936–2012Gujarati language novelist and translator (1936-2012)

B. B. Lal

1921–2022archaeologist (1921–2022)

Babu Gulabrai

1888–1963Hindi philosopher and essayist (1888–1963)

Benoy Kumar Sarkar

1887–1949academic

Bharati Mukherjee

1940–2017Indian-American writer (1940-2017)

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

b. 1956novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist

Geetanjali Shree

b. 1957writer

Khadija Mumtaz

b. 1955Malayalam language author

Kiran Desai

b. 1971author

Mahatma Gandhi

1869–1948independence activist (1869–1948)

Muthuvel Karunanidhi

1924–2018politician, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India (1924–2018)

Palagummi Sainath

b. 1957journalist

Paramahansa Yogananda

1893–1952Yogi, Kriya Yoga guru and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship (1893-1952)

Pasupuleti Purnachandra Rao

1948–2019journalist and film critic (1948-2019)