When she was eight, Samhita Arni started writing and illustrating her first book. 'The Mahabharata - A Child's View' went on to be published in seven language editions and sell 50,000 copies worldwide, winning the Elsa Morante Literary Award, and receiving commendations from the German Academy for Youth Literature and Media and The Spanish Ministry of Culture.
Samhita's second book, 'Sita's Ramayana', a graphic novel developed in collaboration with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels for two weeks in 2011. Elle Magazine named Arni as one of twenty young upcoming South Asian writers to watch out for.
Her latest book, 'The Missing Queen', is a speculative-fiction mythological thriller and has been published by Penguin (Viking) and Zubaan.
Samhita is an alumnus of the United World College in Italy and has a double-major in Religion and Film Studies from Mount Holyoke College (USA). She has lived in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Italy and the USA.
Arni is unconscionably proud of having served as the inspiration for the character of Ravi's irritating, know-it-all younger sister in the popular Tinkle Magazine series Defective Detectives. She has had a varied career that has included being a professional dishwasher, hotel maid, assistant director on a documentary film, caregiver, TV reporter on the fashion show-beat, editor, light-board operator, and, most recently, head scriptwriter on an Afghan TV series in Kabul. But she likes being a novelist best of all - a career choice that allows her to wake up late, bathe when she pleases and consume vast quantities of espresso.
