Hello, I'm Amrita.
I write difficult stories about convoluted relationships, culturally displaced identities, and people who go unnoticed. I'm British-Indian and by day an Asset Manager in London. By night, when I'm not surrounded by buildings and spreadsheets, I work on my novels. One of which is a literary fiction with a love story at it's heart and the other is a speculative matrilineal saga disguised as a comedy. I also paint, love dictionaries, and wax lyrical about food.
Some published works. Latest from the blog. Or say hello.
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026
Writing
Fiction
Captain Asterix
Apricity Magazine
The Mountains Move Too
Barely South Review
Receptionist
Bridge Eight Press
The Butcher of Walthamstow
Hippocampus Magazine
Non Fiction
You Are What You Put In Your Omelette
Glutton Magazine
10 Things to Blog About When You’re a Brand-New Author
The Writing Cooperative
How to Walk Your Legs Off in Pondicherry
Tripoto
India in 20 Days
Altertrips
I Am Not a CEO
TechinAsia
features
Editorship
Issue 01: New Beginnings
Oratoria Magazine
Issue 01: What Would You Sell for Thirty Bucks?
fake Art Magazine (now discontinued)
Issue 02: Your First and Your Last
fake Art Magazine (now discontinued)
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026
Works in Progress
Half Written
Currently querying. Upmarket fiction with a love story at its heart, spanning 1990s India and present day England. Unlikely friendship, mismatched goals in life, grief, obsession, betrayal, and destructive choices.All Our Goddesses
Novel in progress. Speculative family saga, through four matrilineal generations of devastation, toxicity, and comedy.
How To Make a Man and The Gifter are two short stories on submission. My Brother Dara is a short story in progress.
Upcoming projects: The Deep List interview and podcast series on Oratoria in July 2026, and the second Critique Partner Match Up Program in August 2026.
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026
Latest
on substack
Craft Essays On Writing
My current favourite essays and interviews on the practice of writing
Write the Damn Thing
12 blunt lessons from a lifelong writer who learned them the hard way
May Writerly Things
A monthly dispatch from the trenches, the drafts, and the general chaos
Is My Writing Too South Asian?
Do peanut vendors in India operate at 2 a.m.?
How Copying and Pasting From a Spreadsheet Saved My Novel
For those who don't like outlines.
How I Work With Beta Readers
Lessons in keeping my ego in check.
The Commute
Which is mostly about The Manuscript.
What a Year of Writing Taught Me
Or how I learned to embrace the insanity, accidentally write a novel, and develop an unhealthy relationship with Google Drive.
journal
Unrested and Disillusioned
11 June 2026
I must feel like I don't have enough problems
On Legacy
06 June, 2026
I physically can't hold a pen right now, so now this.
But First, Let's Write is my blog on Substack. All fresh updates, news on critique partner programs and ARC reader programs, and new pieces are listed there first.
Subscribe Here or use the form below.
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026
Say Hello
I love hearing from readers, writers and everyone in between. Please don't hesitate to say hello or connect on social media.
Stuff
Beta reader & Critique Partner match up
Hello, I'm back with a new matchup session for July 2026!The Match Up list will be announced on 12 July 2026. The form to sign up will remain open till 11 July 2026.
A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud, Carl Schleicher
How does it work?
You sign up and mention your genre, time zone, what stage you are in with your WIP, and what kind of feedback you are looking for. You also add a 3,000 word sample (preferably from the first chapter) to the form.
People who match according to the above are sorted in groups of 2-6 and the beta reading and critiquing begins!What did we learn from the May 2026 match up?Successes:
7 out of 14 groups have stuck together! Some of them meet on Discord and others on WhatsApp. Members have reportedly preferred staying in touch over WhatsApp than Discord because the groups are mixed when it comes to technical knowledge and firing up another platform and being overstimulated by Discord's UI. Other groups have had no issues.3 out of 14 groups have broken into smaller groups, groups of 2 or 3 where they are more sincere and diligent and have rooted out those who haven't been active. The ones that have stuck together have found a routine where they regularly exchange feedback and stay accountable.Failures:
4 out of 14 groups have disintegrated because of lack of commitment and ghosting :-(I am still in the process of collecting feedback and will report back on more.What I will do going forward:
Is to host the groups myself. There is a high rate of ghosting, some skills-based mismatches and general lack of engagement in the failed groups. Hosting the groups myself, at least, for the initial stages, will eliminate a lot of hesitation, concerns, and expectations. In the past, hosted groups have lasted longer, going on to becoming regular writing groups that take the loneliness of doing this out of the process.Will this be more work for me?
Yes, this is a bit more work for me, but like I've said before, I actually love doing this, keeps me fueled about my own work.Am I still doing this for free?
Still and always.
Because I'm just doing this myself, sometimes I am late with my updates and replies, in which case, I can only thank you for your patience!Why did I start this?
Good beta readers and critique partners are notoriously difficult to find. Even when we do use various social networks to do so, time zone and genre mismatches and general lack of accountability have been the biggest issues. It is also very time consuming to take part in multiple online groups just to sift through writers just to find someone that understands your genre and is ready to provide honest, helpful critique. This also helps writers who may not be part of online groups at all. The exercise is very useful in helping writers find not just critique partners but also to keep them accountable.Emails will go out to each group (group members' email addresses will be visible to each other and not outside the group) on 12 July 2026.If you have any questions feel free to email me!
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026
Half Written
Arc Signups
Adult Upmarket Fiction
87,000 words
Tropes:
Friends to lovers, obsessive love, duty vs ambition, feminist heroine, duty-bound hero, desire vs friendship, betrayal, grief, self-destructive protagonists, brother vs brother, accidental pregnancy.
Welcome to the ARC Signup page for Half Written by Amrita Chowdhury, an adult book club novel, with a love story at its heart.
An ambitious, feminist, engineering student falls for a duty-bound, traditional, fighter pilot. One problem. He is her boyfriend's best friend.
Veera Sen is set to graduate University with an award-winning project, aiming for the C-suite by the time she's thirty. When her boyfriend Sameer Sharma, a charismatic fighter pilot in the Air Force, introduces her to his friend Paddy Thomas—a traditionalist who embodies everything she resists—she braces for friction.
Instead, stolen conversations and blistering debates ignite an unlikely kinship that tests their boundaries and their loyalties to the man who brought them together. Through a devastating loss, battling guilt and grief, mismatched ideologies, a war of their generation, and obsession that leads to self-destruction, they struggle to stay apart and they struggle to stay together, forcing them to recognise whether wanting each other is enough to overcome not wanting the same life.
Half Written is a beautifully rendered tale on friendship, love, grief, guilt, longing, and the meaning of being together through years of being ill-fated lovers.
For those who loved:
Heart The Lover by Lily King, Talking At Night by Claire Daverley, One Day by David Nicholls, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Past Lives (the movie) by Celine Song.
ARC Distribution:
September 2026
Launch timeline:
December 2026
ARC Sign UP Forms:
Google (Available Now)
NetGalley (Coming Soon)
BookSirens (Coming Soon)
BookSprouts (Coming Soon)
For any queries, please feel free to email Amrita.
A trope guide on social media is available below.
copyright © Amrita Chowdhury 2026