Arefa Tehsin

Arefa Tehsin grew up treading jungles with her naturalist father. She was often found trying to catch a snake or spin a yarn. Tehsin is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books and contributes columns and features to publications like Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, Conde Nast Traveller and The Hindu. She has been shortlisted for awards like The Asian Prize for Fiction, Godrej Lit Live! Fiction Book of the Year, NEEV Book Award, FICCI Best Book of the Year Award and The Hindu Young World Best Author Award. Her adult novel The Witch on the Peepul Tree will be broadcasted in 4 Indian languages on Kuku FM and translated in Sinhalese. The picture book The Elephant Bird was read at 3200+ locations in India from the slums to the Presidential library on the International Literacy Day, 2016 and translated in more than 35 languages. A few schools in India and Sri Lanka are using her books as textbooks and supplementary readers. She was appointed the Honorary Wildlife Warden of Udaipur district for a term and has pursued nature conservation through her writings and columns.