| Prajwal Parajuly | |
| Native Name: | प्रज्वल पराजुली (शर्मा) |
| Native Name Lang: | ne |
| Birth Place: | Gangtok, Sikkim, India |
| Education: | Kellogg College, Oxford |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Nationality: | Indian |
Prajwal Parajuly (né Sharma; born 24 October 1984) is an Indian writer whose works focus on Nepali-speaking people and their culture. Parajuly's works include the short-story collection The Gurkha's Daughter and novel Land Where I Flee.
Parajuly grew up in the Gangtok, Sikkim region of northeastern India. His father is an Indian Nepalese and his mother Nepalese.[1] He was educated at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and the University of Oxford.[2] Before committing to a writing career, he worked as an advertising executive at The Village Voice.[3]
In September 2011, Parajuly became the youngest Indian author to be offered a two-book, multi-country deal. He was signed by Quercus.[4] He published his first book in 2012: a short story collection with the title The Gurkha's Daughter: Stories.[5] Describing and dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese diaspora, his debut book was shortlisted for the 2013 Dylan Thomas Prize[6] and longlisted for The Story Prize that same year.Parajuly's second book, the novel Land Where I Flee, came out in 2013.[7] It was an Independent on Sunday book of the year and a Kansas City Star best book of 2015. It was translated and published in French in 2020 and was nominated the same year for the Debut Novel Prize and a finalist for the Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature.[8] He was the first writer-in-residence at The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in 2013. In 2016, Prajwal Parajuly was invited to be a judge for the Dylan Thomas Prize.[9]
Prajwal Parajuly has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, the New Statesman and the BBC.[10]