Anirudh Kanisetti is an award-winning author, columnist, and public historian whose work bridges scholarship and storytelling. His debut book, Lords of the Deccan, was a national bestseller, translated into three languages, and won several prestigious awards including the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman, and Tata Literature Live!’s Nonfiction Book of the Year. His second book, Lords of Earth and Sea, was an Asian Age bestseller and further cemented his place as one of India’s leading historical voices.
Anirudh’s writing and commentary have appeared in renowned publications such as BBC Asia, The Hindu, The Indian Express, and The Hindustan Times. He has collaborated on documentaries with the BBC, Arté, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, among others. He was named to The Week’s 40 Under 40 list of India’s most promising creatives and Open magazine’s Open Minds 2022 Soft Power list.
His research has been supported by institutions such as the MAP Academy, Princeton Center for Digital Humanities, and India Foundation for the Arts. He is currently an Honorary Fellow at the Deccan Heritage Foundation. Previously, he served as Editor of the MAP Academy’s Encyclopedia of Indian Art, the most extensive digital resource on South Asian art history, and as Associate Fellow at the Takshashila Institution.
Anirudh is also a prolific public intellectual. He pens the widely-read Thinking Medieval column for ThePrint, and has hosted three acclaimed podcasts exploring ancient and medieval South Asia: Echoes of India, Yuddha: The Indian Military History Podcast, and The Altar of Time.