Rana Safvi is a prominent and bestselling writer, scholar and translator deeply committed to India’s rich cultural heritage and diverse civilizational legacy. Her repertoire spans a variety of media including writings (both original and translations), podcasts and videos.
With a remarkable portfolio, she has authored ten books that delve into topics ranging from culture and history to the monuments of India. Notable titles among her works include, among others, Tales from the Quran and Hadith; The Delhi Trilogy (comprising Where Stones Speak, The Forgotten Cities of Delhi and Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi); A Saint, A Folk Tale and Other Stories; and In Search of The Divine: Living Histories of Sufism in India. In addition to her literary contributions, Rana Safvi has undertaken the task of translating significant works into English. In particular, she has translated Zahir Dehlvi’s Dastan-e-Ghadar: The Tale of the Mutiny (an Amazon ‘Memorable Book of 2017’); Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s pivotal piece on Delhi, Asar-us-Sanadid; as well as four important accounts of Delhi from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Her first novel, A Firestorm in Paradise, reimagines late-Mughal Delhi in the build-up to the 1857 Revolt. Represented by A Suitable Agency, it was published by Penguin Random House India in 2024.
Read reviews of A Firestorm in Paradise here.
Rana Safvi's Books
A Firestorm in Paradise: A Novel on the 1857 Uprising
Before the 1857 Uprising of India, the old Delhi, or Shahjahanabad is sprawling with life―like an ode wavering towards its end. The inhabitants of Red Fort and the splendored world around it, all subjects of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived on the cusp of a change with the arrival of the British. Yet, people’s own stories continued against backdrop of this transition.