Stoke Newington Literary Festival

  • Home
  • Our venues
  • Blog
  • About
  • Sign up
  • Speakers
  • The Programme
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Share
Stoke Newington Literary Festival

Nikesh Shukla

Nikesh Shukla
Nikesh Shukla is a writer of fiction and television.

His new novel, Meatspace, is out now and according to The Guardian, ‘Like Douglas Coupland’s Generation X, this novel captures a cultural moment.’ It’s out on The Friday Project. It’s been lauded by New Statesman, BBC Radio 4, The Independent on Sunday, and the Daily Mail. Which is funny, because they usually hate immigrants.

His debut novel, Coconut Unlimited was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011. Metro described it as ‘…a riot of cringeworthy moments made real by Shukla’s beautifully observed characters and talent for teen banter’. In 2011, Nikesh co-wrote a non-fiction essay about the riots with Kieran Yates called Generation Vexed: What the Riots Don’t Tell Us About Our Nation’s Youth. In 2013, he released a novella about food, called The Time Machine , donating all his proceeds to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. This won Best Novella at the Sabotage Awards.

In 2014, he wrote an award-winning short film with Sarmad Masud called Two Dosas, starring Himesh Patel. His Channel 4 Comedy Lab Kabadasses aired on E4 and Channel 4 in 2011 and starred Shazad Latif, Jack Doolan and Josie Long. The film won the Film London ‘London Calling Plus’ Award for best film.

His short stories have been featured in the following places: Best British Short Stories 2013, Five Dials, The Moth Magazine, Pen Pusher, The Sunday Times, Book Slam, BBC Radio 4, First City Magazine and Teller Magazine. He has written for the Guardian, Esquire and BBC 2. He has, in the past, been writer in residence for BBC Asian Network and Royal Festival Hall.

He hosts The Subaltern podcast, the anti-panel discussion featuring conversations with writers about writing. Guests have included Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, Teju Cole, James Salter, George Saunders, Jennifer Egan, Evie Wyld, Sam Bain, Alex Preston, Colson Whitehead and more. He also co-hosts a nerdier podcast with sci-fi writer James Smythe, called Meat Up, Hulk Out.

He likes Spider-Man comics. A lot.

Twitter – @nikeshshukla
Web – nikesh-shukla.com

  • Our other speakers: 
  • Magdalene Forés
  • Eloise Millar
  • Nadia Shireen
  • Thurston Moore
  • Gareth E. Rees
  • Nick Thorpe
  • Ben Moor
  • Paul Burston
  • Martin Rowson
  • Andy Miller
  • Ana Seferović
  • Ken Worpole
  • John Hegley
  • Rosie Price
  • Stephen Morris
  • Julius Beltrame
  • Joel Golby
  • Michele Kirsch
  • Georgina Pringle
  • Michael Bravo
  • Ashley Hickson-Lovence
  • Neil Denny
  • Emanuelle Dirix
  • Briony Bax
  • Xanthi Barker
  • Claire Armitstead
  • Kostya Tsolákis
  • Will Wiles
  • Fernando Sdrigotti
  • Niall McDevitt
  • Alex Clark
  • Alex Jackson
  • Golnoosh Nour
  • Karen Liebenguth
  • Kit Caless
  • Torcuil Crichton
  • Louie Stowell
  • Johny Pitts
  • Serena Constance
  • Sean Longden
  • Alan Johnson
  • Suzanne Noble
  • Yasmin Khan
  • Mariam Khan
  • Sheila Dillon
  • Jo Neary
  • Mazin Saleem
  • Saima Mir
  • Henny Beaumont
  • Ed Miliband
  • Michael Goldfarb
  • Jamie Lee
  • Jeremy Reed
  • Sophie Parkin
  • John Osborne
  • Greta Bellamacina
  • Felicity Cloake
  • Melanie McGrath
  • Caroline Bobby
  • Anna Birch
  • Catherine Steadman
  • Robyn Travis
  • Shiromi Pinto
  • Anthony Cartwright
  • Bruno Vincent
  • Suzi Feay
  • Patrice Lawrence
  • Kirsten Norrie
  • Lynn Enright
  • Roger Robinson
  • Jan Noble
  • Niki Segnit
  • Jude Rogers
  • Sali Hughes
  • Amir Dotan
  • Zawe Ashton
  • Richard Boon
  • Lara Maiklem
  • Alissa Timoshkina
  • Kiare Ladner
  • Alice Lascelles
  • Diana Henry
  • Isobel Galleymore
  • Sue Quinn
  • Lee Jackson
  • Ken Worpole
  • Rachel McCormack
  • Tim Wells
  • Nigella Lawson
  • Francesca Cassini
  • Olia Hercules
  • Nadia Valman
  • Joel Morris & Jason Hazeley
  • Robert Montgomery
  • Wendy Jones
  • Valerie Brandes
  • Daniel Trilling
  • Elizabeth Macneal
  • Crystal Mahey-Morgan
  • Lauren Laverne
  • Jody Porter
  • Natasha Carthew
  • Debora Robertson
  • Travis Elborourgh
  • Dan O’Brien
  • Joe Haddow
  • Coco Khan
  • Sav Akyuz
  • Julia Bueno
  • Jessica Martin
  • Sophie Parkin
  • Nicola Kent
  • Anita Sethi
  • Nikesh Shukla
  • Jenny Linford
  • Kerry Hudson
  • Zia Ahmed
  • Pete Brown
  • Natasha Carthew
  • Dina Nayeri
  • Joe Kerr
  • Paul Scraton
  • Geoff Nicholson
  • Dorian Lynsky
  • Francesca Segal
  • Tom Huddleston
  • Jean McNeil
  • Ryann Donnelly
  • Sophie Naufal
  • Caroline Rosie Dent
  • Home
  • Our venues
  • Blog
  • About
  • Sign up
  • Speakers
  • The Programme
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Share

© 2023 Stoke Newington Literary Festival. Stoke Newington Literary Festival C.I.C. is a company limited by guarantee.
Registered in England & Wales number 7990786. Registered Office: 52 Bayston Road, London N16 7LT.
Site by Zerofee. All festival photos©: www.davidxgreen.com. Ticket icon designed by Mateo Zlatar from the Noun Project