Shweta Taneja

Shweta Taneja grew up in Delhi, India. She earned a master's degree in English Literature from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and a Masters in Fashion Communication from the National Institute of Fashion Technology.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Taneja's journalist career began with the magazines Femina and Men's Health (where she was the Assistant Editor of the India edition). She continues to write for several print and online publications including Mint,{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Keyword/shweta%20taneja|title=Shweta's articles for Mint|access-date=9 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402100203/http://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Keyword/shweta%20taneja|url-status=live}} Discover India, Scroll{{Cite web|url=http://scroll.in/authors/1677|title=Shweta Taneja {{!}} Scroll.in|website=scroll.in|access-date=29 July 2016|archive-date=15 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815124940/http://scroll.in/authors/1677|url-status=live}} and The Huffington Post (India).{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.in/search?q=shweta+taneja&s_it=aolin-huffpo-V1|title=Shweta's articles for Huffington Post India|access-date=9 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112352/http://www.huffingtonpost.in/search?q=shweta+taneja&s_it=aolin-huffpo-V1|url-status=live}}

Her first publication was the Krishna: Defender of Dharma, a graphic novel about the Hindu god, for which she wrote the script and collaborated with illustrator Rajesh Nagulakonda. In 2013, the graphic novel was recommended for Classes 7 and 8 for schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, India by the Association of Writers & Illustrators for Children.{{cite web|url=http://cbseacademic.in/web_material/publication/1_Recommended_Reading_Lists_by_AWIC_%26_PAG-e-2013.pdf|title=CBSE Reading Promotion, SNo 94|access-date=9 March 2015|archive-date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715054149/http://cbseacademic.in/web_material/publication/1_Recommended_Reading_Lists_by_AWIC_%26_PAG-e-2013.pdf|url-status=live}}

The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong was her first novel. It involves a group of twelve-year-olds who solve a mystery in the hill town Kurseong in India.{{cite web |url=http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/a-chat-with-shweta-taneja-fantasy-writer-and-journalist |title='I became a writer by chance!': Swetha Padmanabhan - Citizen Matters, Bangalore News |publisher=Bangalore.citizenmatters.in |accessdate=10 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402122013/http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/a-chat-with-shweta-taneja-fantasy-writer-and-journalist |url-status=live }} Taneja promoted the novel using a children's detective workshop. Groups of children would solve a mystery within a given time and then draw out their version of the events{{cite web |author=Bhumika K. |url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/kids-crack-a-whodunnit/article5443973.ece |title=Kids crack a whodunnit |work=The Hindu |date=10 December 2013 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |archive-date=29 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329202615/http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/kids-crack-a-whodunnit/article5443973.ece |url-status=live }}

The Skull Rosary was Taneja's second graphic novel. She wrote the script and collaborated with five different illustrators for each of the five stories in the novel. It was nominated for Best Writer and Best Cover for the Comic Con India awards 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/comics/comic-con-india-awards-2013-nominees-announced-special-awards-for-pran-kumar-sharma-and-tinkle-studio |title=Comic Con India Awards 2013 Nominees Announced: Special Awards for Pran Kumar Sharma and Tinkle Studio |publisher=AnimationXpress |date=16 January 2014 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172230/http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/comics/comic-con-india-awards-2013-nominees-announced-special-awards-for-pran-kumar-sharma-and-tinkle-studio |url-status=live }}

Her next work was Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery which is a detective fantasy novel based in Delhi, India. The protagonist of Cult of Chaos is Anantya who is a woman tantrist - a practitioner of Tantra.{{cite web |author=Mini Anthikad-Chhibber |url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/fast-furious-and-completely-magical/article6925583.ece |title=Fast, furious and completely magical |work=The Hindu |date=23 February 2015 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |archive-date=25 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025023609/https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/fast-furious-and-completely-magical/article6925583.ece |url-status=live }} Cult of Chaos is billed as India's first tantic-detective novel.{{cite web |author=- Rohini Nair |url=http://www.asianage.com/books/supernatural-detective-thriller-597 |title=A supernatural detective thriller |publisher=The Asian Age |date=10 February 2015 |accessdate=10 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143041/http://www.asianage.com/books/supernatural-detective-thriller-597 |url-status=live }} The novel was launched with a quiz on paranormal and supernatural beliefs in India.{{cite web|author=Sravasti Datta|date=4 February 2015|title=The thrill in occult|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/the-thrill-in-occult/article6857297.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025023710/https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/the-thrill-in-occult/article6857297.ece|archive-date=25 October 2018|accessdate=10 March 2015|work=The Hindu|url-status=live}}

In 2016, Taneja published How to Steal a Ghost @ Manipal which is as described by The Asian Age as "A young student turns into a paranormal investigator to impress her boyfriend."{{Cite news|url=http://www.asianage.com/books/power-unknown-670|title=Power of the unknown|date=2016-10-19|work=asianage.com/|access-date=2017-06-28|archive-date=25 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325232006/http://www.asianage.com/books/power-unknown-670|url-status=live}} The book is published in an ebook format by Juggernaut Books and it was the Taneja's foray into becoming a hybrid author.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/Seamlessly-moving-between-worlds/article16670629.ece|title=Seamlessly moving between worlds|last=Chhibber|first=Mini Anthikad|work=The Hindu|access-date=2017-06-28|language=en|archive-date=24 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124080854/http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/Seamlessly-moving-between-worlds/article16670629.ece?|url-status=live}} Her second novel of the Anantya Tantrist Mystery series, The Matsya Curse, was published in 2017. The third novel of the Anantya Tantrist Mystery series, The Rakta Queen, was published in 2018.

In 2016, Taneja was selected for the Charles Wallace India Fellowship (Chichester University, UK).{{Cite web|url=https://kitaab.org/2016/01/25/the-lounge-chair-interview-10-questions-with-shweta-taneja/|title=The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Shweta Taneja|last=Anjum|first=Zafar|date=25 January 2016|access-date=29 July 2016|archive-date=7 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807030345/https://kitaab.org/2016/01/25/the-lounge-chair-interview-10-questions-with-shweta-taneja/|url-status=live}} In 2020, Taneja's short story was a finalist in the French Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Awards 2020.{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/shweta-tanejas-short-story-in-grand-prix-de-limaginaire-awardss-shortlist-6258870/|title=Shweta Taneja's short story in Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Awards's shortlist|date=9 February 2020|accessdate=10 February 2020|work=The Indian Express|archive-date=9 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209205802/https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/shweta-tanejas-short-story-in-grand-prix-de-limaginaire-awardss-shortlist-6258870/|url-status=live}} The short story is about a dystopian future in India where fertile women are treated as commodities.{{cite news|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2020/feb/10/shweta-taneja-forging-a-french-connection-2101224.html|title=Shweta Taneja: Forging a French connection|first=Vidya|last=Iyengar|date=10 February 2020|accessdate=10 February 2020|publisher=The New Indian Express|archive-date=11 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211184212/https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2020/feb/10/shweta-taneja-forging-a-french-connection-2101224.html|url-status=live}} In 2021 she published a children science book They Found What?/They Made What?.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-22|title=Book introduces children to rare discoveries of Indian scientists|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/they-found-what-they-made-what-book-introduces-children-to-rare-discoveries-of-indian-scientists-7199038/|access-date=2021-08-24|website=The Indian Express|language=en|archive-date=21 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821075037/https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/they-found-what-they-made-what-book-introduces-children-to-rare-discoveries-of-indian-scientists-7199038/|url-status=live}}

• "The Songs That Humanity Lost Reluctantly to Dolphins", (Part of an anthology titled Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban{{Cite web|title=Multispecies Cities|url=http://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p176/Multispecies_Cities.html|access-date=2021-08-24|website=WORLD WEAVER PRESS|language=en|archive-date=24 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624125051/https://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p176/Multispecies_Cities.html|url-status=live}}), World Weaver Press, April 2021
• "The Biryani Choke", Eleven Stops to the Present: Stories of Bengaluru (2020)
• "Les Chants que L’Humanité abandonna aux" (translated by Thomas Bauduret), Galaxies No 66 (2020)
• "La Fille qui saigne" (translated by Mikael Cabon), [https://galaxies-sf.com/galaxies-revue-58.html Galaxies No 58] (2019)
• "Grandma Garam's Kitty Party", [https://www.hachetteindia.com/TitleDetails.aspx?titleId=46660 Magical Women] edited by Sukanya Venkatraghavan (Hachette India, 2019)
• "Agni's Tattoo", Whose Future is It?", Cellarius Stories (Genesis Thought, 2018)
• "The Daughter That Bleeds", [https://www.kitaabstore.com/products/the-best-asian-speculative-fiction-2018?category=anthologies The Best Asian Speculative Fiction] (Kitaab, 2018)
• "It's a Dog's Death" (comic with Vivek Goel), [https://www.holycow.in/product/were-house/ Were House] (Holy Cow Entertainment, 2013)
• "Terror Strikes Back", [https://www.hachetteindia.com/TitleDetails.aspx?titleId=43476 Celebrate Holi] (Hachette India, 2013)

{{reflist}}

• [https://twitter.com/shwetawrites Shweta Taneja Twitter Page]

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Category:Living people

Category:Indian comics writers

Category:Indian fantasy writers

Category:Indian women journalists

Category:Indian women novelists

Category:National Institute of Fashion Technology alumni

Category:Delhi University alumni

Category:Indian graphic novelists

Category:Novelists from Delhi

Category:Women writers from Delhi

Category:Indian female comics writers

Category:Indian female comics artists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Lady Shri Ram College alumni