Nayanika Mahtani once harboured dreams of becoming a stage actor, but she followed the proverbial left side of her brain to do an MBA at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and became an investment banker instead. A decade later, she followed her heart to live in Africa. In a slight change of career, she is now an award-winning author and screenwriter, based in London. Nayanika's books are published by Penguin Random House with genres ranging from historical fiction to multi-generational family sagas, her books have received critical acclaim, ranked as bestsellers on Amazon and won awards (including the South Asia Book Award 2020). Nayanika has also co-written the story and screenplay for the film, Shakuntala Devi (a biopic drama), with leading Indian actor Vidya Balan in the titular role. The film released on Amazon Prime Video in July 2020 and ranks amongst Amazon’s ‘Most Watched Hindi Films Worldwide’. Nayanika’s latest YA novel, Across the Line, is presently in development as a film, for which she is adapting the story for screen. The audiobook version of this story, which is rooted in the Partition of the subcontinent, is narrated by acclaimed Pakistani actor Nadia Jamil, and has recently been launched by Audible. Nayanika Mahtani has been invited as a speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival every year since 2015, as well as to various other lit fests in the UK, USA, UAE, India, Pakistan and Bhutan.