Nikesh Shukla

Nikesh Shukla, born to East African parents who settled in the UK, grew up in a Gujarati multi-generational household in Harrow, Middlesex. During his childhood, he worked in his father’s warehouse at weekends, and in his spare time engaged in creative and imaginary play, for example making radio plays with his cousins, writing raps, poems and stories, and drawing comic books. Growing up, Shukla’s conceptualization of his identity was complicated, due to an awareness of race. With Gujarati heritage, a British nationality and being part of the twice migrant diaspora from India, he now describes himself most often as a ‘Londoner’ to encapsulate his multi-layered sense of identity.

Shukla experienced racism at a predominantly white school as a child, and later studied law at university and became involved in activism projects. He met Deeder Zaman of Asian Dub Foundation in 1999, and the encounter led to his foray into experimental music and rap before moving away from the music scene and publishing his debut novel, Coconut Unlimited, in 2010. The book was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. Shukla writes for a varied readership of adults, children and young adults, and he received recognition for his work as editor of The Good Immigrant (2016), a bestselling essay collection by minoritized voices from the UK. In the same year Shukla launched the Jhalak Prize with novelist Sunny Singh, annually awarding Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour.

Shukla’s writing practices respond to the lack of Person of Colour voices in publishing. Describing himself as a kind of ‘reluctant activist’, his work embodies a literary mode of activism that makes larger conversations accessible to those on the margins. In the public sphere, The Good Immigrant positioned Shukla as a prominent commentator on race, and although he champions diversity in the arts, he increasingly considers and advocates for the power of storytelling beyond race as a central subject. In 2021 Shukla declined an MBE, viewing the award as a glorification of empire. He co-founded both the literary journal The Good Journal and, for new Person of Colour writers, The Good Literary Agency, and is a fellow of the Folio Academy and the Royal Society of Literature. He currently lives in Bristol with his wife and children and his most recent work is a five-part Spider-Man: India comic series for Marvel.