Soumya Bhattacharya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soumya Bhattacharya (b 1969) is an Indian journalist and author.

Born in Kolkata, Bhattacharya grew up and studied in Kolkata and London. As a journalist he has worked on The Times (London), The Sydney Morning Herald, India Today magazine (New Delhi), The Telegraph (Kolkata) and the Hindustan Times (Mumbai). In 2003, he was the winner of the Medialink Fellowship. He is currently the deputy editor of the Hindustan Times in Mumbai.

His essays and literary criticism have appeared in a number of publications across the world, including The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, New Statesman and Wisden in Britain; The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia; Sports Illustrated in South Africa; and The New York Times. His interests are popular culture, sport, film and literature.

Bhattacharya's first book, a work of narrative non-fiction called You Must Like Cricket?, was published across the world to critical acclaim in 2006. Part reportage, part travelogue, part cultural politics, You Must Like Cricket? is a memoir that explores how India's identity got so closely tied to a game and the troubling hold that cricket has over him and a billion other of his countrymen.

Writing about the book in The Guardian (London), the cultural critic Mike Marqusee called it 'highly entertaining'. He wrote: 'Bhattacharya deals with cricket fandom as it is in the 21st century, mediated through television, text messages, the internet. Yet his book is heir to a tradition harking back to cricket's first literary classic, John Nyren's The Cricketers of My Time, published in 1833.' The Times (London) called it 'beautifully written' and said it had 'insights that will open English eyes... Bhattacharya uses his anecdotes tellingly to flesh out his argument about the way cricket has taken hold on a country.' You Must Like Cricket? was one of the notable books of the year for the award-winning Observer Sport Monthly magazine in the UK.

Bhattacharya lives in Mumbai with his wife and daughter.

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article lacks information on the notability of the subject matter. Please help improve this article by providing context for a general audience, especially in the lead section. (October 2007)