Soumya Bhattacharya

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.' Y"ou 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.