Ankush Saikia was born in Tezpur, Assam in 1975 and is currently based in Shillong. He has worked in journalism and publishing in New Delhi, and is the author of eleven books including The Forest Beneath the Mountains, The Girl From Nongrim Hills, and the Detective Arjun Arora series, of which Tears of the Dragon is the fourth and latest instalment. His short story The River was included in The Hachette Book of Indian Detective Fiction (2024), and his last two books, A Natural History of Violence and Rough Streets were both published as e-books in 2024.
He was shortlisted for the Outlook/Picador-India non-fiction writing competition in 2005, and was one of the recipients of the Shanghai Writers’ Association’s 2018 fellowships. His articles and longform stories (mostly on North-East India) have appeared in FountainInk magazine, Scroll.in, The Indian Express, The Hindu, and Hindustan Times, among others.
Saikia is currently collaborating with Abhishek Choudhury on Secret of the Snow Lion, a thrilling graphic novel which recreates a bygone era of intrigue, adventure and romance. This book is represented by A Suitable Agency.