Kanishka Gupta

Kanishka Gupta is a well-known literary agent, writer, and publishing commentator based out of New Delhi. His agency, Writer’s Side, is acclaimed in the media to be a key player in South Asian publishing. 

His first author Anees Salim has won India’s three most prestigious literary prizes: The Sahitya Akademi Award, The Crossword Book Award and The Hindu Literary Prize. His author Avni Doshi made it to the shortlist for the Booker Prize for Fiction 2020 for her debut novel Burnt Sugar/Girl in White Cotton. 

His agency has represented thousands of books, and has worked with several award winning authors and translators, including Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi, winners of the 2025 International Booker for their collection of short stories, Heart Lamp, as well as Daisy Rockwell, translator for the 2022 International Booker winner, Tomb of Sand, Shehan Karunatilaka, winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, Avni Doshi, whose novel, Burnt Sugar, was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker prize, and Jerry Pinto, recipient of the 2016 Windham-Campbell prize.