Shrayana Bhattacharya

Shrayana Bhattacharya trained in development economics at Delhi University and the Harvard Kennedy School. Since 2006, she has worked on research projects with the Institute of Social Studies Trust, SEWA and Centre for Policy Research on gender and labour. At present, she is a Senior Economist at the World Bank, leading several projects that focus on boosting women’s employment and strengthening social safety nets. Her first book of non-fiction Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence was published by HarperCollins India in November 2021 and by Liberty Books in Pakistan in August 2022. Shrayana recently won the Atta Galatta BLF Book Prize for Best Non Fiction for 2022. She has also won the Times of India JK Paper AutHer Prize for Best Non-Fiction Author for 2022 and the SKOCH Economic Forum Prize for literature in India.