Shabnam Minwalla

Shabnam Minwalla is a mother of three teenagers, an ardent saree-shopper and a Mumbai-holic. She has spent most of her life with words—editing her school magazine, working as a journalist with the Times of India and writing non-fiction. But what she most enjoys is writing books for children. Her first book, The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street is being used as a reader and has been performed as a play by many Mumbai schools. Her books for younger readers — `The Shy Supergirl’, `Lucky Girl’ and `When Jiya Met Urmila’ — are immensely popular and `When Jiya Met Urmila’ won the Neev Book Award. Shabnam has also written the laugh-a-minute Nimmi series, short stories in a number of anthologies, a stack of picture books and a popular non-fiction book on the Mumbai neighbourhood of Colaba. Her two new books for young adults — `Saira Zariwala is Afraid’ (Winner of the AttaGalatta Bangalore Lit Fest Award) and `Murder at Daisy Apartments’ (winner of the Auther Award for Children’s Book of the Year) have delighted horror and mystery buffs. Shabnam got her MA in Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was also a Chevening Scholar at Wolfson College in Cambridge. Delegate | 2018, 2019, 2022