Ashok Kumar Banker (born 7 February 1964 in Mumbai, India) is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and Indian mythology. The author of several well-received novels including a trilogy billed as "India's first crime novels in English", he became widely known for his retellings of Indian mythological epics, starting with the internationally acclaimed and best-selling eight-volume Ramayana series. His books have sold over 2 million copies and have been published in 16 languages in 58 countries. His Epic India Library is an attempt at retelling all the myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in one story cycle comprising over 70 volumes.

Early life

Childhood

Ashok Banker's parents were an Anglo-Indian mother and a Gujarati Hindu father. He was raised by his grandmother, May Agnes Smith, who financed the publication of his first book. Ashok Banker was born in Mumbai in 1964. He had a multi-religious background, growing up in a Christian household and being educated in a Jewish school. Banker was raised by his grandmother, May Agnes Smith. She married Mr. D'Souza, an Indian Christian from Goa, and the couple settled in Byculla in Mumbai. His grandmother financed the publication of his first book, a collection of poetry titled Ashes in the Dust of Time, which he self-published at age 15.

Career

Journalism

Ashok Banker worked as a freelance journalist and columnist for several years, for publications such as The Times of India and Outlook magazine. He was also a reviewer and commentator on contemporary Indian literature, an essayist, literary critic and reviewer.

Literary contribution

Banker is a contemporary Indian novelist. His work has been included in anthologies such as The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. His novel Vertigo, published in 1992, was praised by critics and readers including the late Dom Moraes.

Crime fiction

Banker has published in several genres, including crime thrillers. His Kali Rising books is a contemporary radical feminist thriller series featuring only women protagonists. The first book, Blood Red Sari, was launched at the Tata Literature Live! literary festival in Mumbai in November 2012.

Science fiction, fantasy and horror

His Gods of War was released by Penguin in 2009.

Autobiographical work

Three of his novels contain autobiographical elements and are closely related to one another. His novel Vertigo is about a man struggling to make a successful career and home life in Bombay. Byculla Boy takes its name from the suburb he and his mother grew up in. Beautiful Ugly is a tribute to his mother.

Mythological retellings

Banker is best known for his Ramayana Series, a freely imaginative retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem. It has spawned the burgeoning mythology genre.

Television work

Banker has been credited as the creator and scriptwriter (story, screenplay and dialogues) for A Mouthful of Sky, India's first television series in English, originally aired on DD Metro in the Indian sub-continent, retelecast on Star World. He was also co-writer of Malaysia's television series in English, titled City of the Rich, produced by UTV. Writing sporadically for television from the mid-1980s onwards, Banker scripted over 520 episodes of broadcast television for various series.

Feature films

In June 2013, Disney UTV purchased the rights to Banker's ongoing Mahabharata Series, with Banker commissioned to adapt the epic for release in 2016/17. Disney India CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur was attached to produce and Director Abhishek Kapoor signed to direct the film. Banker has also confirmed that he has been commissioned by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra to write the script for a forthcoming film.

Select bibliography

Poetry

Literary fiction

Young adult novels

Ramayana series

Collected as omnibus volumes

Krishna Coriolis series

Mahabharata series

Prequel Series Mahabharata Series

Epic love stories

Kali Rising

Crime fiction

Itihasa series

Future history

Non-fiction books

Other works