International Booker Prize 2026 judge Nilanjana S. Roy reflects on the power of translated fiction to change hearts and minds – and why busy people, especially, should find time to read more
Nilanjana S. Roy
International Booker Prize 2026 judge
- Prizes judged
Nilanjana S. Roy is a novelist and newspaper columnist. She is the author of two award-winning fantasy novels, The Wildings (2012) and The Hundred Names of Darkness (2013)
Roy’s third novel and first for adult readers, Black River (2022), is Delhi noir fiction. It was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Roy has also written an essay collection, The Girl Who Ate Books, about her lifelong love of reading, and is the editor of three major anthologies: Our Freedoms (2021), Patriots, Poets & Prisoners: Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee’s The Modern Review (2016), and A Matter of Taste: The Penguin Book of Indian Writing on Food (2004).
Over two decades as a columnist and literary critic, Roy has written for publications including the Business Standard, the New York Times, the Guardian, and the BBC. She currently writes a column about books and the reading life for the Financial Times. She lives in Delhi, India.
She is a judge for the International Booker Prize 2026, which this year is supported by Bukhman Philanthropies.
Author photo © Gauri Gill