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BIO
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​Meghna Pant is a multiple award-winning and bestselling author, screenwriter, journalist and speaker.

 

Recognised as one of India’s best writers by multiple national and international publications, Pant has published eight books to critical and commercial acclaim. These include BOYS DON'T CRY (Penguin Random House, 2022), THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, VERY BAD GOOD NEWS (Penguin Random House, 2021), HOW TO GET PUBLISHED IN INDIA (Bloomsbury, 2019), FEMINIST RANI (Penguin Random House, 2018), THE TROUBLE WITH WOMEN (Juggernaut, 2016), HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Random House India, 2013) and ONE & A HALF WIFE (Westland, 2012). Several of her works are under screen adaptation, including BOYS DON'T CRY and THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, VERY BAD GOOD NEWS, as well as a few other screenplays that she has written. 

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Pant has been felicitated with various honours and shortlists for distinguished contribution to literature, gender issues and journalism, including the Bharat Nirman Award, Laadli Media Award, FICCI ‘Young Achiever’s Award’, The Lifestyle Journalist ‘Women Achiever’s Award’, FON South Asia Short Story Award, Muse India Young Writer Award, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Frank O'Connor International Award and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. 

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Her short stories have been published in over a dozen international literary magazines, including Avatar Review, Wasafari, Eclectica, The Indian Quarterly and QLRS, as well as in several anthologies including Namita Gokhale's THE HIMALAYAN ARC, where her story Boongthing was critically praised by The Hindu, Telegraph, Business Standard and Hindustan Times.

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She has written over a hundred articles for international and national media houses, like the Times of India, Hindustan Times, DNA, MidDay, The Asian Age, Mumbai Mirror, Tehelka, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Verve, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, Man’s World, Little India, South Asian Times, India Today, Scroll, Firstpost, The Huffington Post, DailyO, Dainik Bhaskar, and BuzzFeed, among others

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Pant is a vociferous feminist and advocate of gender equality. She curates a popular monthly panel discussion on feminism in Mumbai called ‘Feminist Rani’, and interviews India’s leading opinion makers and change leaders from Shobhaa De to Chanda Kochhar to Kalki Koechlin to Deepa Malik on online shows like She’s The Boss (Firstpost), First Lady (Firstpost), and Get Real (SheThePeople.TV). She has spoken out against domestic violence in her TEDx talks. 

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Pant is also known for having abridged the world’s longest epic, The Mahabharata, into one hundred tweets that The Guardian (UK) quoted as ‘wonderfully descriptive and paced’.

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Pant has been invited as a speaker for many of the nation's biggest literary festivals and conferences, including TEDx, Jaipur Literature Festival, Times Lit Fest (Delhi & Mumbai), Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Pune International Literary Festival, Lucknow Literature Carnival, Think Literature, Litomania, Chandigarh Literati, Odisha Literary Festival, Hyderabad Literary Festival, Kumaon Lit Fest, Dehradun Literature Festival, Mood Indigo, TISS Literature Festival, Cuttack Lit Fest, LitOFest, Festivelle, Global Shapers Community, Women Writers Fest, Litomania, Young Makers Conclave, #RiseWithTwitter, Rotary Club, The Feminist Conference (UN Women), PEN and She Leads India.

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She is a regular panelist at prime time news channels like Times Now, NDTV, CNN-IBN and India Today TV, and international channels like DW News (Germany) and CGTN (China). She also conducts motivational talks for underprivileged girls. She has been associated with the Avanti Young Women Leadership Program, The Blue Ribbon Movement, Kehkasha 2017, Srujna Sheroes and served as a mentor for Sheroes and Vital Voices (a woman empowering initiative by Hillary Clinton).

AWARDS &RECOGNITIONS

WINNER

SHORTLISTS

RECOGNITIONS

LISTS

  • FICII Young Achiever Award (2019)

  • The Lifestyle Journalist Women Achiever's Award (2019)

  • Laadli Media Award (2018)

  • Bharat Nirman Award (2017)

  • FON (Fellows of Nature) South Asia Short Story Award (2016)

  • Muse India Young Writer Award (2013)

  • Commonwealth Short Story Prize (2018)

  • Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2014)

  • Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (2012)

  • The Cinnamon Press Novel Writing Award (2012)

  • Word Hustler's Literary Novel Contest (2012)

  • Radio One Youth Star (2015)

  • Sheroes Mentor (2016)

  • Judge (Laadli Media Awards - Books 2016)

  • Judge (Six Degrees Game Of Blogs 2015)

  • Pant is part of the gifted population of Indian writers penning a runaway success story with her rich prose. — Khaleej Times

  • Pant is elegiac – a testament to her emotional wisdom as a writer. Her sensitivity to the multidimensionality of the issues and her eye for the detail of social interactions result in intelligent, satisfying reads. — The Gulf News

  • 10 Young Indian Writers Who Are Changing The Game. — Scoop Whoop

  • Among The Top Indian Women Writers. — Youth Ki Awaaz

  • A skilled writer (who) uses (her) journalistic base to create convincing, sensitive fictional scenarios. — The Hindu Business Line

  • Among The Top 8 Female Indian Authors In The Literary World. — EYuva

  • Among India's Most Influential Female Writers. — Polka Café

  • 10 Young Indian Achievers Who’ve Made It Big. — Scoop Whoop

  • Pant Is Paving The Way For Writers. — The New Indian Express

  • Among The Top Trending Indian Authors Who Completed Our Bucket List This Year. — Word Hazard

  • Meghna Pant is an author who wears several hats with elan. She is a journalist, speaker, and a feminist, too. ­­— Deccan Herald

  • Meghna Pant is known for taking a strong feminist stance in her writing. — The Hindustan Times

  • Meghna Pant’s short stories stick like burrs. They are small, dramatic pieces that hook into the skin with urgent claims that are not easy to resolve or brush off. — The Asian Age

  • Pant’s stories capture the horror as well as the beauty of life. — Tehelka

  • A pioneer amongst women writers, Meghna Pant empowers women and promotes the beauty of Indian literature. — The Indian Panorama

  • Meghna Pant’s mastery lies in her ability to hold the reader’s interest to the end. — Business Standard 

  • Shines Through. — The Hindustan Times

  • Sparkling Writing. — Telegraph

  • We Enjoyed Pant’s Raunchy Satire Of India's Cultural Mores. — The New Yorker

  • Sparkling Stories. ­­ — Hindu

  • Among 7 Incredible Indian Authors Whose Books You Should Be Reading RN! — Delhi Metro

  • Among The Top 100 Micro Influencers Of India. — Qoruz

  • Among the Top 50 Speaker Influencers on Twitter. — Bloggers Alliance

  • Among India’s Five Gutsy Women Making Powerful Personal Statements. –– The Hindustan Times

  • An Honest, Intelligent, Insightful And Downright Feminist. –– Girl Talk HQ

  • A Survivor And A Hero Of Act Two, Who Started Her Life After A Cinematic Intermission, Meghna Pant Is Among The Strongest Feminist Voices In The Country. — ­Femina

  • Pant Is Starting A Conversation About Social Issues. — The Hindustan Times

  • Meghna Pant Is A Role Model For Her Chat Shows. — Sakaal Times

  • 25 Witty, Sharp And Fearless Women To Follow On Twitter. — SheThePeople

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PERSONAL LIFE

​Born in Shimla, to Sujata and Deep Chandra Pant––both of whom worked in the IRS (Indian Revenue Service) and retired as Chief Commissioners of Income Tax from Mumbai and Kolkata respectively in 2012––Meghna spend her childhood in Delhi, her teenage years in Mumbai, and most of her 20's in the cities of Zurich, Singapore, Dubai and New York, studying and then working. 

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After completing an undergraduate degree in Economics and Statistics from St. Xavier College, Mumbai in 2001, Meghna won a scholarship for a MBA in Finance at Nanyang Business School, Singapore, and a Masters in International Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

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After her MBA in 2004, Meghna moved on from a job in corporate finance in Switzerland to become a business journalist. In 2005, she began her career as a TV anchor with Arnab Goswami at Times Now, and went on to work for NDTV Profit in Mumbai (2006) and Bloomberg-UTV in New York City (2007-10), where she reported from the New York Stock Exchange. She has met and interviewed President Obama, Mukesh Ambani, Sir Richard Branson, Hillary Clinton, Ratan Tata and Shah Rukh Khan, among others. She then worked in Dubai for three years as the Editor of a business magazine.  In 2013, Meghna quit her job to return to India and become a full-time writer. 

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Pant is the sister of comedian and author Sorabh Pant. She currently lives in Mumbai with her husband, Sahil Kanuga, who is a lawyer, and their two adorable daughters. 

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