Annie Zaidi

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Annie Zaidi

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Born
Dukhti-rag, India
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Member Since
July 2013

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Annie Zaidi writes poetry, essays, fiction, and scripts for the stage and the screen.

She is the author of The Comeback (2025), City of Incident: A novel in twelve parts (2021), and Prelude to a Riot, which won the Tata prize for fiction (2020). She is a recipient of the Nine Dots prize (2019) for Bread, Cement, Cactus: A memoir of belonging and dislocation.

Her other books include Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales (collection of essays, short-listed for the Crossword Book Award (non- fiction) in 2010, Gulab (novella), Love Stories # 1 to 14 (short stories), and The Good Indian Girl (co-authored with Smriti Ravindra), and Crush (poetry).

She is also the editor of 'Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian women's Writing' and of 'Equal Halves'
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A prize for short fiction

One of the good things that happened over the last year: my short story, ‘Zinnias in the Graveyard’, won third prize (shared with Brecht De Poortere) at the Hudson Review Short Story competition 2024-25. It took a while but the story has finally been published in the Summer 2025 issue of the Hudson Review. Here's a brief excerpt: The last gardener Shafiqa had hired asked for three
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Published on August 25, 2025 06:21
Average rating: 3.66 · 1,910 ratings · 370 reviews · 20 distinct worksSimilar authors
Prelude to a Riot

3.97 avg rating — 562 ratings2 editions
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Gulab

3.27 avg rating — 132 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions
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Love Stories # 1 to 14

3.62 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 2012 — 5 editions
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Bread, Cement, Cactus

3.81 avg rating — 102 ratings — published 2020 — 7 editions
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Unbound: 2,000 Years of Ind...

3.81 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions
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Known Turf: Bantering with ...

3.64 avg rating — 81 ratings — published 2010 — 6 editions
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City of Incident - A Novel ...

3.70 avg rating — 77 ratings
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The Bad Boy's Guide To The ...

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3.18 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions
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The Comeback : A Novel

3.88 avg rating — 26 ratings2 editions
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Crush: 50 Poems

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4.08 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2007
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Annie Zaidi is now friends with Sahil Ahuja
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The Odd Book of Baby Names by Anees Salim
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Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
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An Advertisement for Toothpaste by Ryszard Kapuściński
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Oh Terrifying Mother by Sarah Caldwell
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Death of a witch by G.M. Carstairs
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The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
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Good book. Will appeal particularly to writers who have struggled with the publishing industry.
The Women’s Courtyard by Khadija Mastoor
"There are Partition novels, and then there is 'The Women's Courtyard'. This is the story of a Muslim family set in the United Provinces in the final years of the freedom movement- there are people who side with the British, the people who want indepe" Read more of this review »
Idea
Idea is on page 75 of 558 of River of Smoke
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Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Indian Readers: 2013, dely is coming! 205 290 Dec 31, 2013 10:09AM  
Indian Readers: Who do you think is the newest kid on the block in Indian English Literature? 59 384 May 02, 2015 05:31AM  
Franz Kafka
“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
Franz Kafka

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
“A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
Dinah Maria Craik

George Eliot
“I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.”
George Eliot

Erica Jong
“Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.”
Erica Jong, Fear of Flying

Juan Gabriel Vásquez
“There is no more disastrous mania, no more dangerous whim, than the speculation over roads not taken.”
Juan Gabriel Vásquez, The Sound of Things Falling

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