Bidisha is a writer, critic and TV and radio broadcaster specialising in the arts and culture, social justice and international affairs.
She signed her first book deal, with HarperCollins, at 16. Her first novel, Seahorses, was published to commercial and critical success when she was 18. She has had regular opinion columns in the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent. Bidisha’s second novel, the thriller Too Fast to Live, was published when she was 21. Bidisha then lectured in Political Theory and was an editor of various arts and culture magazines. Her third book, the bestselling travel memoir Venetian Masters, was published in February 2008. She currently writes for The Guardian, the Financial Times, Mslexia, The Observer, New Statesman, New Humanist, The List, Arise, Intelligent Life and various publications in the Middle East. Bidisha’s fourth book is a reportage called Beyond the Wall: Writing A Path Through Palestine.
Bidisha is also a presenter for BBC TV, Radio 3, Radio 4 and the World Service. She is a regular guest on BBC Two’s Newsnight Review (now The Review Show), Sunday Morning Live and The Big Questions. For BBC Radio 4 she contributes regularly to Saturday Review and Woman’s Hour, both of which she has guest presented, and Front Row, and has presented Archive on Four, Heart and Soul as well as various other documentaries and series. Bidisha was the regular presenter of BBC Radio 3’s arts and ideas programme, Night Waves, the World Service books programme The Word and the flagship arts show, The Strand.
Bidisha has judged numerous international literary prizes including The Orange Prize, the Polari Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and is the patron of various arts and human rights charities. She also does outreach work in refugee camps, schools and prisons internationally. Her fifth book, out in Spring 2014, is about refugees and asylum seekers.