Ashok Banker

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.

Ashok Banker was born in Mumbai in 1964 soon after his parent's divorce. Ashok Banker's parents were an Anglo-Indian mother and a Gujarati Hindu father. Banker was raised by his British grandmother, May Agnes Smith. May was born in Ceylon, married Mr. D'Souza, an Indian Christian from Goa, and the couple settled in Byculla in Mumbai. Growing up in Mumbai, Banker had a multi-religious background, growing up in a Christian household and being educated in a Jewish school.

Banker's 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.

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.

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.

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.

His Gods of War was released by Penguin in 2009.

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.