Manu S. Pillai (born 1990) is an Indian writer and popular historian.Known for his works on the
Travancore monarchy and
the history of Princely India, he is most famous for his debut book,
The Ivory Throne, which is about
Rani Sethu Lakshmi Bhay's reign as the Regent of
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...
.
Early life and education
Manu S. Pillai was born in
Mavelikkara
Mavelikkara is a taluk and municipality in the '' Onattukara'' region of Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala. Located in the southern part of the district on the banks of the Achankovil River.
Etymology
The name Mavelikar ...
,
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...
in 1990. He grew up in
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
. He got his Bachelor's Degree in Economics from
Fergusson College
Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fi ...
, Pune. He got a Master's Degree in International Relations from
King's College London.
Following his education, he worked with the Parliamentary office of
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...
in New Delhi and
Lord Karan Bilimoria
Karan Faridoon Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, (born 26 November 1961) is a British Indian businessman, life peer in the UK House of Lords, and a university chancellor.
Bilimoria founded the global beer brand, Cobra Beer and is the company's chair ...
in London. He also worked as a researcher on the
BBC Series, ''Incarnations'' with
Sunil Khilnani, which tells the story of India through fifty great lives. In 2017, he became a full time historian and writer.
He holds a PhD in history from King's College, London.
Pillai is known for his debut non-fiction ''
The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore'' for which he won the
Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2017.
The story is expected to be adapted into a web series by
Arka Mediaworks. ''Rebel Sultans,'' Pillai's second work, narrates the story of the Deccan from the close of the thirteenth century to the dawn of the eighteenth century. He has released two more books since, ''The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin'' and ''False Allies: India's Maharajas in the Age of Ravi Varma''.
List of works
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References
External links
Official Website
Indian historical novelists
Living people
1990 births
Writers from Kerala
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