List of Indian women writers

A

• Varsha Adalja, Gujarati novelist, playwright
• Smita Agarwal, poet, educator
• Meena Alexander, poet, memoirist, essayist, novelist, critic, educator
• Samina Ali, contemporary Indian-American novelist, feminist, author of Madras on Rainy Days
• Balamani Amma, poet, published many collections of poetry in Malayalam
• K. Saraswathi Amma, short story writer, novelist, feminist
• Lalithambika Antharjanam, Malayalam short story writer, poet, children's writer, novelist, author of Agnisakshi
• Temsula Ao'', short story writer, poet, educator
• Ashitha, since c.1986: Malayalam short story writer, poet

  B

• Jasodhara Bagchi, leading feminist critic, essayist, activist
• Sushmita Banerjee, memoirist
• Rashmi Bansal, non-fiction best-seller writer on entrepreneurship
• Bani Basu, Bengali novelist, essayist, critic, poet
• Barkha Dutt, TV journalist
• Malati Bedekar, Marathi feminist writer, short story writer, screenwriter
• Sheila Bhatia, poet, playwright, theatre director
• Sujata Bhatt, Gujarati poet, also writing in English
• Rajlukshmee Debee Bhattacharya, since the 1990s: poet in Bengali and English
• Anuradha Bhattacharyya, poet and novelist in English
• Suchitra Bhattacharya, Bengali novelist, short story writer
• Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi, Assamese poet, lyricist, children's writer
• Urvashi Butalia, feminist, publisher, non-fiction writer

  C

• Neelam Saxena Chandra, poet, children's writer, novelist
• Chandramathi, novelist writing in Malayalam and English
• Rimi B. Chatterjee, novelist, short story writer, non-fiction writer, translator
• Jayasri Chattopadhyay, Sanskrit poet, educator
• Anuja Chauhan, advertiser, novelist, author of The Zoya Factor
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Hindi poet
• Prem Chowdhry, social scientist, feminist, non-fiction writer, essayist
• Rita Chowdhury, poet, novelist, educator
• Raghavan Chudamani, novelist, short story writer, writing in Tamil and English
• Ismat Chughtai, Urdu novelist, screenwriter
• Ajit Cour, Punjabi novelist, short story writer

  D

• Esha Dadawala, Gujarati poet, journalist
• Sukanya Datta, scientist and science fiction writer
• Abha Dawesar, novelist, short story writer, author of Babyji
• Shobha De, journalist, novelist
• Eunice de Souza, English-language poet, critic, novelist
• Anita Desai, novelist, author of In Custody
• Kamal Desai, novelist, writing in Marathi
• Kiran Desai, novelist, author of The Inheritance of Loss
• Gauri Deshpande, novelist, short story writer, poet, wrote in Marathi and English
• Shashi Deshpande, novelist, short story writer, children's writer
• Sunita Deshpande, Marathi memoirist, letter writer
• Nabaneeta Dev Sen, poet, novelist, educator
• Ashapoorna Devi, Bengali novelist, poet
• Leela Devi, novelist, non-fiction writer, playwright, translator, writing in Malayalam and English
• Mahasweta Devi, Bengali-Indian journalist, novelist
• Maitreyi Devi, Bengali poet, novelist
• M. K. Binodini Devi, Manipuri memoirist, essayist, short story writer, novelist
• Nalini Bala Devi, Assamese poet
• Nirupama Devi, novelist
• Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Indian-American poet, novelist, short story writer, author of The Mistress of Spices''
• Varsha Dixit, novelist
• Nirupama Dutt, Punjabi poet, journalist, translator
• Toru Dutt, poet, novelist, writing in English and French

  G

• Gangadevi, Telugu princess, poet, author of Madura Vijayam
• Mridula Garg, novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, writing in Hindi and English
• Sagarika Ghose, journalist, TV presenter, novelist
• Namita Gokhale, English-language novelist, short story writer
• Padma Gole, Marathi poet
• Mamoni Raisom Goswami, Assamese poet, novelist, short story writer, editor, educator
• Santhini Govindan, children's writer
• Kodagina Gowramma, pen name of B. T. Gopal Krishna, short story writer, feminist
• Teji Grover, poet, novelist, translator, painter
• Neelum Saran Gour, writer, academic
• Ganga Bharani Vasudevan, novelist, script writer

  H

• Baby Halder, domestic servant, autobiographer
• Githa Hariharan, novelist
• Chandrakala A. Hate, feminist writer, educator
• Nistula Hebbar, journalist, columnist, novelist
• Vera Hingorani, gynaecologist, medical writer
• Saliha Abid Hussain, 20th-century Urdu-language novelist, children's writer
• Krishna Hutheesing, biographer, non-fiction writer

  I

• M. K. Indira, Kannada novelist

  J

• Manorama Jafa, prolific children's writer
• Rashid Jahan, Urdi short story writer, playwright
• Jana Begum, early female writer of a commentary on the Qur'an
• Pupul Jayakar, biographer, non-fiction writer on handicrafts
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, acclaimed German-born British novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, grew up in India
• Sarah Joseph, Malayalam novelist, short story writer, author of Aalahayude Penmakkal
• Isha Basant Joshi, poet, short story writer
• Anees Jung, journalist, columnist, non-fiction writer
• Kirthi Jayakumar, author, non-fiction writer, women's rights activist, feminist
• Jyoti Arora Blogger, novelist

  K

• Madhur Kapila, writer, journalist, art critic
• Meena Kandasamy, poet, biographer, novelist, feminist
• Amita Kanekar, novelist, educator
• Kanhopatra, Marathi saint-poet
• Kota Neelima, writer, journalist, artist
• Lakshmi Kannan, Tamil poet and novelist, translates her works into English
• Bhanu Kapil, British-Indian novelist
• Manju Kapur, since 1998: novelist
• Swati Kaushal, since 2005: young adult novelist
• Girijabai Kelkar, Marathi-language playwright, feminist writer
• Indira Kher
• Sumana Kittur, journalist, film director, lyricist
• Habba Khatoon, Kashmiri mystic poet
• Mridula Koshy, short story writer, novelist
• Sumati Kshetramade, novelist
• Rajam Krishnan, Tamil novelist, playwright, short story writer, feminist

  L

• Jhumpa Lahiri, British-born American-Indian short story writer, novelist, author of The Lowland
• Lalleshwari, Kashmiri mystic poet
• Bem Le Hunte, British-Indian novelist, now in Australia
• Lalitha Lenin, acclaimed Malayalam poet, educator
• Ritu Lalit, Indian novelist

  M

• Akka Mahadevi, poet writing in Old Kannada
• Megha Majumdar, novelist, A Burning
• Tilottama Majumdar, Bengali novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist
• Anju Makhija, since 1990, poet, playwright, translator
• Amita Malik, film and television critic, radio journalist
• Kiran Manral, novelist, blogger, non-fiction writer
• Kamala Markandaya, pen name of Kamala Purnaiya Taylor, best selling novelist, journalist
• C K Meena, novelist, journalist, educator
• Meera, Hindu mystic poet
• K. R. Meera, journalist, novelist, short story writer, children's writer
• Rama Mehta, sociologist, novelist, non-fiction writer
• Indu Menon, Malayalam novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, sociologist
• Jaishree Misra, best-selling novelist
• Baisali Mohanty, author, columnist, non-fiction writer
• Molla, poet, translated the Ramayana into Telugu
• Muddupalani, Telugu poet
• Chitra Mudgal, Hindi novelist
• Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-American novelist, short story writer, non-fiction writer, author of Jasmine
• Khadija Mumtaz, medical doctor, novelist, author of Barsa
• Sudha Murthy, Kannada novelist, short story writer, children's writer, sociologist, businesswomen
• Seema Mustafa, since 1990s, journalist, biographer, newspaper editor
• Meher Pestonji,, freelance journalist, author

  N

• Sarojini Naidu, child prodigy, Indian independence activist, poet
• Anita Nair, English-language poet, novelist, author of Ladies Coupé
• Nalini Priyadarshni, poet, writer, critic
• Suniti Namjoshi, poet, short story writer, children's writer
• Meera Nanda, Indian-American historian, religious writer
• Anupama Niranjana, medical doctor, Kannada novelist, short story writer

  P

• Manjula Padmanabhan, playwright, journalist, comic strip artist, children's writer
• Mrinal Pande, television presenter, journalist, novelist, non-fiction writer, newspaper editor
• Meghna Pant, award-winning novelist, non-fiction writer, journalist, feminist, columnist, speaker
• Dhiruben Patel, Gujarati novelist, short story writer, playwright, translator
• Savitribai Phule, poet, social reformer
• Gita Piramal, magazine editor, businesswoman, non-fiction writer
• Gudibande Poornima, poet, novelist, non-fiction writer
• Manjiri Prabhu, novelist, filmmaker
• Manasi Pradhan, novelist, women's rights activist
• Amrita Pritam, poet, novelist, essayist, first prominent Punjabi woman poet
• Neelkamal Puri, Punjabi novelist, short story writer, columnist, educator
• Deanne Pandey, fitness and lifestyle writer

  R

• Rajalakshmi, Malayalam poet, novelist
• Rajashree, author of the chick lit best seller Trust Me
• Anuradha Ramanan, prolific novelist, short story writer
• Ramanichandran, contemporary best selling Tamil novelist
• Ravinder Randhawa, British-Indian novelist, short story writer
• Bhargavi Rao, specialist in Telugu literature, translator, anthologist
• Malathi Rao, novelist, short story writer
• Santha Rama Rau, Indian-American novelist, playwright
• Nuchhungi Renthlei, poet, singer, school teacher, women's rights activist
• Anusree Roy, Indo-Canadian playwright, actress
• Anuradha Roy, novelist
• Arundhati Roy, novelist, author of The God of Small Things
• Nilanjana S. Roy, journalist, children's writer
• Kamini Roy, leading Bengali poet, essayist, feminist
• Rita Kothari, Author, Professor, Translation Studies and Partition http://www.iitgn.ac.in/faculty/humanities/rita.htm

  S

• English novelist, columnist
• Padma Sachdev, Dogri poet, novelist, also writing in Hindi
• Nayantara Sahgal, novelist, memoirist, letter writer, author of Rich Like Us
• Sarojini Sahoo, feminist writer, novelist, short-story writer, author of Sensible Sensuality
• Nandini Sahu, English-language poet, folklorist, academic
• Indira Sant, Marathi poet
• Krupabai Satthianadhan, early English-language Indian novelist
• Mala Sen, writer and human rights activist, author of India's Bandit Queen
• Mallika Sengupta, Bengali poet, novelist, feminist, sociologist
• Poile Sengupta, English-language playwright, children's writer, poet
• Teesta Setalvad, journalist, civil rights activist
• Madhuri R. Shah, educationist, non-fiction writer
• Shantichitra, novelist, short story writer, educator
• Sarjana Sharma, journalist, broadcaster
• Shanta Shelke, Marathi poet, novelist, short story writer, educator
• Preeti Shenoy, novelist, non-fiction writer
• Sunny Singh, journalist, novelist, short story writer
• Sunny Singh, Bengali poet, novelist, feminist
• Kabita Sinha, Bengali poet, novelist, feminist
• Mridula Sinha, state governor of Goa, Hindi novelist, short story writer
• Shumona Sinha, Indian born French writer, novelist, feminist
• Sivasankari, Tamil novelist
• Krishna Sobti, Hindi novelist, essayist
• Atima Srivastava, short story writer, novelist, screenwriter, film director
• Arundhathi Subramaniam, since c.2003: poet, journalist, biographer
• Vidya Subramaniam, prolific novelist, short story writer
• Sugathakumari, Malayalam poet, activist
• Kamala Surayya, English-language poet, Malayalam short story writer, columnist, autobiographer
• Sunita Jain, English and Hindi fictionist
• Sonia Chatterjee, Fiction Writer and Blogger
• Sukanya Basu Mallik, Poet, short-story writer and film critic.

  T

• Shweta Taneja, novelist, comic writer, journalist
• Sooni Taraporevala, screenwriter, photographer
• Romila Thapar, historian, non-fiction writer
• Susie Tharu, non-fiction writer, educator, women's rights activist
• Manjit Tiwana, Punjabi poet, educator
• Madhu Trehan, since mid 1970s, journalist, magazine editor
• Ira Trivedi, since 2006, non-fiction writer, novelist, columnist

  U

• O. V. Usha, Malayalam poet, novelist, short story writer

  V

• Urvashi Vaid, Indian-American LGBT activist, non-fiction writer
• Vaidehi, acclaimed Kannada short story writer, essayist, novelist, poet, children's writer
• Aparna Vaidik, historian
• P. Valsala, novelist, short story writer, social activist
• Mahadevi Varma, Hindi poet, women's rights activist
• Kapila Vatsyayan, art historian, non-fiction writer
• Reetika Vazirani, Indian-American poet, educator
• Kaajal Oza Vaidya, screenwriter, novelist, journalist
• Vijayalakshmi, prolific Malayalam poet
• Pinki Virani, journalist, best selling novelist, non-fiction writer
• Susan Visvanathan, sociologist, non-fiction writer, novelist, essayist

  Y

• Mallika Yunis, since 1980s, novelist

  Z

• Shama Zaidi, art critic, screenwriter, filmmaker
• Zahida Zaidi, poet, playwright, critic, educator