Ramya Sharma

Ramya Sarma started writing when she wrote her ‘autobiography’ for a school assignment when she was just six years old. After an extensive education in primarily English, but also German and French and a finale of studying socio-cultural linguistics and fiction writing with luminaries such as Noam Chomsky and Carolyn McGrath, she returned to Mumbai to serendipitously work with the Times of India group in various capacities. She had already been writing for Femina and Science Today, and was creating short stories and doing articles on subjects as diverse as cold fusion, moustaches, home décor, money management, fashion and beauty, art and people for a number of publications in the group.

From accidental journalist to art critic was a short hop – once a classical Indian dancer, Ramya started writing on dance, painting, sculpture and those who made it happen. In another happy accident, she was asked to create websites for the Times group, and worked on the main brand, Femina, Filmfare and a cluster of other identities. A short stint in Delhi took her to India Today and then back to the Times of India as Lifestyle Editor, moving back to Mumbai to take over the movies portal. Once again, book reviews, art reviews, dance reviews, articles and interviews showed off her byline, and she started editing magazines such as Interiors and Lifestyle India, writing for international publications like International Indian Woman, Financial Times and Asiatech and creating websites for a number of clients including those working with fine jewellery, armoured vehicles, tourism, lifestyle and more.

But books were always a priority and they finally came her way. Editing cookbooks – Sanjeev Kapoor, Hari Nayak, Saroj Joshi, Zeba Kohli, Sudha Kamat and more – and a number of other volumes on subjects as diverse as children’s fantasy, vedic maths, general fiction and poetry have been part of her editorial journey. Writing coexisted with editing in her book world and she has the pocket biography of Raghu Rai, the Book of Bollywood Dance, In a Pickle and the soon to be published biography of a playback singer to her byline credit. Now she is looking at expanding her fiction horizons from short stories to a full length novel which will – fingers crossed – find an audience.