About

Puja Changoiwala is an award-winning Indian journalist and author

of three books — Homebound, Gangster on the Run, and The Front Page Murders. A critically acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction, she has won over a dozen Indian and international awards for her work.

Distinguished as a ‘storyteller of history’, Puja is drawn to stories that spotlight lives on the fringes of society — from the caste-based sewer divers of India to the Global South workers trafficked into the war in Ukraine. Over fifty publications have published her reportage and think pieces, including the BBC, CNN, The Hindu, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Al Jazeera, Scientific American, VICE, and Foreign Policy. HarperCollins and Hachette, meanwhile, have published her books.

A former fellow with the Global Investigative Journalism Network, Puja has also been a fellow with the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik, an international resident with the Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre in Scotland, and a 2024-25 author in residence with the University of Lorraine, France. She's also a recipient of several other awards, honours, and fellowships, including the following:

Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity, 2025.
British Council's Study UK Alumni Award, 2023.
South Asian Journalists' Association (SAJA) Journalism Award, 2022.
American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Writing Award, 2022.
Journalism for an Equitable Asia Merit Award, 2022.
International Centre for Journalists’ Covid-19 Reporting Award, 2021.
Red Ink Merit Award for Excellence in Indian Journalism (Special Mention), 2019.
Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity, 2018.
Westminster Alumni Award - Outstanding Achievement, 2018.

A creative writing tutor, who has taught at several Indian and foreign institutions, Puja has been a speaker at journalism and literature events around the world, including the International Journalism Festival in Italy, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai, the Ullapool Book Festival in Scotland, and the Lagos International Festival in Nigeria. Her non-fiction book, Gangster on the Run, is currently being adapted for the screen, while her novel, Homebound, is being translated into French.

Interviewed for audio and video documentaries by platforms like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Netflix ('Mumbai Mafia: Police vs The Underworld'), over thirty publications have written countless articles about Puja’s work, describing her writing as both ‘powerful’ and ‘humane’. In October 2025, France’s University of Lorraine published a book about her journalistic and creative work, ‘The Itineraries of Puja Changoiwala’s Artivist Practices: To Dispel Darkness and Herald Change’.

Puja's forthcoming books include Bombay Black, a literary noir, and The War They Didn't Choose, a multi-country investigation into military trafficking.