Samit Basu (born 14 December 1979) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

whose body of work includes science fiction, fantasy and superhero novels, children's books, graphic novels, short stories, and a Netflix film. His most recently published novel is ''The City Inside'', an anti dystopian near future science fiction novel set in Delhi and published by Macmilan imprint Tordotcom. Its previous Indian edition ''Chosen Spirits,'' published 2020, was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature. He currently lives and works in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, India.

Biography

Born 14 December 1979 in a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

family, Basu grew up in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

, where he studied at Don Bosco School, and later

Presidency College, Kolkata Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

, where he obtained a degree in Economics. He dropped out of the

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resourc ...

to write The Simoqin Prophecies and then went on to complete a course in broadcasting and documentary film-making at the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

, London.

Writing

Basu is the author of the GameWorld Trilogy, '' The Simoqin Prophecies'', '' The Manticore's Secret'' and ''

The Unwaba Revelations ''The Unwaba Revelations'' is a 2007 Indian fantasy novel written by Samit Basu. It is the third and final novel in the Game World trilogy after '' The Simoqin Prophecies'' (2004) and '' The Manticore's Secret'' (2005). The "Unwaba" is a chame ...

'', a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

trilogy published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and c ...

. He is also the author of the Adventures of Stoob series of children's books set in Delhi, and ''Terror on the Titanic'' a YA novel. In 2020, ''Chosen Spirits'' was published by Simon and Schuster. The book is described as 'anti-dystopian'. The UK publication of ''Turbulence'' in 2012 introduced Basu to the West. ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' said "Turbulence has it all… Solid writing, great character development, humor, personal loss, and excellent points to ponder in every chapter." It also won a ''Wired'' Geekdad Goldenbot Award and appeared at no.2 on the list of hot new Amazon Science Fiction titles on the week of its release. Since 2013, Basu has also written a series of children's books titled ''The Adventures of Stoob''. Three books have been published so far in the series - ''Testing Times'', ''A Difficult Stage'' and ''Mismatch Mayhem''. All three have been illustrated by graphic artist Sunaina Coelho. Basu is also a comics writer. His initial projects with Virgin Comics were as a writer for Shekhar Kapur's ''

Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conce ...

'' (#3-#10) and ''

The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' based on the Panchatantra. Basu also co-wrote ''Untouchable (comics)'', a graphic novel with ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

'' and ''

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

'' writer Mike Carey and went on to write UnHoli, an episodic zombie comedy set in and around New Delhi. In 2013, Basu published Local Monsters, a comic/fantasy take about six immigrant monsters living in a house in Delhi, and contributed to ''18 Days'', a

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for th ...

take on the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

Direction and Screenwriting

In April 2019, Netflix announced that Basu was a co-director and writer of House Arrest, one of their new International Originals series from India.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Samit 1979 births Living people Bengali writers Indian male novelists Writers from Kolkata Indian fantasy writers Indian comics writers Indian science fiction writers Alumni of the University of Westminster Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Don Bosco schools alumni Indian male screenwriters 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian male writers Novelists from West Bengal 21st-century Indian screenwriters