Anil Menon

This article is about the writer. For the NASA astronaut, see Anil Menon (NASA astronaut).

Anil Menon
BornKerala, India
OccupationWriter
Period2000s–present
GenreSpeculative fiction, science fiction, children's literature
Notable worksInto the Night, Love In A Hot Climate, The Poincaré Sutra, The Beast With Nine Billion Feet, "The Coincidence Plot"
Website
anilmenon.com

Anil Menon is an Indian computer scientist and writer of speculative fiction. He has authored research papers and edited books on evolutionary algorithms. His research, in collaboration with Kishan Mehrotra, Chilukuri Mohan, and Sanjay Ranka, addresses the mathematical foundations of replicator systems, majorization, and reconstruction of probabilistic databases. His short stories and reviews have appeared in the anthology series Exotic Gothic, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Chiaroscuro, Sybil's Garage, Apex Digest, and others.

In 2009, Zubaan Books, India's leading feminist press, published his debut young adult novel The Beast With Nine Billion Feet. It was shortlisted for the 2010 Vodafone Crossword Book Award and the 2010 Parallax Prize.[1][2] In 2009, in conjunction with Vandana Singh and Suchitra Mathur, he helped organize India's first in-residence, three-week speculative fiction workshop at IIT-Kanpur. He co-edited the anthology Breaking the Bow.[3][4]

He is the author of the short story collection The Inconceivable Idea Of The Sun: Stories[5][6] Menon’s novel, Half of What I Say[7][8] was shortlisted for the 2016 The Hindu Literary Prize[9]. The Coincidence Plot (2013)[10] is his latest novel.

Along with Pervin Saket and Akshat Nigam, Menon co-founded the Kolam Writers' Workshop (previously called the Dum Pukht Writers’ Workshop). This annual two-week residential workshop, currently in its fifth iteration, is held at the Adishakti Theatre Complex in the former French colony Puducherry (Pondicherry) in Tamil Nadu.

He is editor-in-chief of The Bombay Literary Magazine.

  1. ^ "Carl Brandon Society Awards". Carl Brandon Society. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Vodafone-Crossword book award nominees announced - Books - Books News - ibnlive". Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana". Zubaan. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Book review: Breaking the Bow". DNA India. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Hachette India". www.hachetteindia.com. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Fluid realities". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  7. ^ December 2016, Gautam Bhatia Issue: 12 (14 December 2016). "Half of What I Say by Anil Menon". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 16 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ bloomsbury.com. "Half of What I Say". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Shortlist for The Hindu Prize 2016 announced". The Hindu. 15 October 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  10. ^ Menon, Anil (5 June 2023). "This new novel weaves a tale through multiple cities and lives connected by strange coincidences". Scroll.in. Retrieved 16 August 2023.