Ajay Chowdhury

Ajay Chowdhury, the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland prize, is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director. His first novel in the Kamil Rahman series – The Waiter (Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month) has been optioned for television. Its follow ups – The Cook (Guardian Top Crime Books of the Year), The Detective (Sunday Times Top Crime Books of the Year), The Spy (Longlisted Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing), and The Shadow – came out to strong reviews. His standalone thriller Eden Falls is published in July followed by the next book in the Kamil series – The Patriot – out in November. He has also written a children’s book – Ayesha and the Firefish, that was adapted into a musical and premiered in San Francisco. He is currently directing the UK premiere of a new comedy – Dog Mom – at the Southwark Playhouse in October.

Outside his writing career, he is a theatre director and has been co-founder or CEO of various companies including Shazam (sold to Apple), Seatwave (sold to Ticketmaster). He is currently Chairman of Cambridge Enterprise, Cambridge University’s spin-out arm and is Non-Executive Director of the Cheek by Jowl theatre company and of the Crime Writer’s Association. He has also served on the boards of the Arts Council, RADA Historic Royal Palaces. He has an MBA from Wharton, studied theatre directing at the Central School of Speech and Drama and was selected as one of the top 100 BAME business leaders in the UK by The Sunday Times.