Timeri N. Murari

Timeri Murari is an Indian novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter. He is the author of fourteen published novels, including best-sellers The Taliban Cricket Club and Taj (1985, republished 2007), and has written extensively for Indian and international newspapers including The Guardian. He has also written the screenplay of the award-winning Hindi movie Daayraa (1997), which was voted one of the ten best films of 1997 by Time magazine. He adapted and directed it as a stage play, The Square Circle, at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre in November 1999, starring Parminder Nagra.

Early years Murari was born in Madras, India and studied at Bishop Cottons Boys' School, Bangalore. He left India for the UK when he was 18 years old to study electronic engineering. He later switched majors to History and Political Science at the McGill University, Montreal. While at university, he began writing for The Guardian and other international newspapers.

His first job was a reporter on the Kingston Whig Standard, in Kingston, Ontario. Murari moved to London, UK, and worked and wrote for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer and other newspapers and magazines before once again shifting base to New York. In the US, Murari wrote film documentaries and contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan among others. He is now living in India. Two of his novels - Field of Honour (I was very much impressed with Field of Honour- Graham Greene) and Four Steps from Paradise - are semi-biographical. He has also written a book for children, Children of the Enchanted Jungle. Scholastic published his Young Adult Axxiss Trilogy in 2016 through to 2018. Aleph has published his latest novel, Chanakya Returns (Indian title) in July 2014. In 2019, the UK publisher, Endeavour Media re-issued his novels, TAJ, The Imperial Agent and The Last Victory online as well as print-on-demand. Also in 2019, Speaking Tiger published his travel/history/memoire, Empress of the Taj, In search of Mumtaz Mahal. His new novel, a dystopian 'Chicanery" October 2024.

Non-fiction Murari has written five non-fiction books. Two of these are memoirs -- My Temporary Son and Limping to the Centre of the World. Empress of the Taj, In search of Mumtaz Mahal is also partly a travel memoire.