Deepak Unnikrishnan

Deepak Unnikrishnan is an award-winning author who is highly sought after for his thoughtful, insightful, and lyrical writing on the often-ignored topics of culture, class, religion, immigrant identity, and cross-cultural awareness. A native of Kerala, India, Unnikrishnan is one of the few Indian authors to have won the prestigious Pushcart Prize for Fiction.

Deepak Unnikrishnan was born in Trivandrum, Kerala in 1984 into a middle-class Hindu family. He holds degrees in English Literature, International Studies, and Women's Studies, and is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, where he also continues to teach writing courses.

Unnikrishnan started writing short fiction in his early twenties, inspired by his own struggles of assimilating into American culture. His stories often offer vivid glimpses into the creation of immigrant identities, and draw from personal experience to explore topics such as religious difference. He often tackles uncomfortable topics, like xenophobia, racism and other social issues related to immigration, with a poignant and precise attitude.

Named “The Most Exciting Fiction Writer Working in America Today”by the Seattle Times, Unnikrishnan’s writing has garnered significant acclaim. His first book, Temporary People, won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and the Man Asian Literary Prize, among numerous other accolades.

In Temporary People, Unnikrishnan explores the lives of temporary immigrants, workers without papers and without legal rights, who are employed by the Indian government to work in the Emirates. These characters struggle to come to terms with the state of limbo in which they find themselves; the novel paints a heartbreaking portrayal of a people in an immigration crisis, yet it remains tender, funny and hopeful.

Unnikrishnan’s next novel, The Story of an Overcoat, was published in January 2021. It is an exploration of class, religion and oppression in South Asia, as seen through the eyes of a Muslim family living in a village in Kerala. Through the protagonist Tayub, a seventeen-year-old of limited means, Unnikrishnan evokes deeply affecting sense of nostalgia.

Unnikrishnan's writing is not only beautiful in its prose, but it also reaches deeply thought-provoking depths. He shines a light on the complexities of immigration, class, and religion, while never ignoring the hope and resilience of the human spirit. He is an important voice that deserves to be heard and his writing should be required reading.