Rochelle Potkar

Biography

Rochelle Potkar is a prize-winning poet, author, playwright, and screenwriter, based in Mumbai. Her books include Four Degrees of Separation, Paper Asylum - shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020, Bombay Hangovers (also now in Hindi), Coins in Rivers – shortlisted at The Wise Owl Literary Award 2025 and longlisted for the Sarojini Naidu Poetry Award 2026.
Alumna of the prestigious Iowa’s International Writing Program, USA and a Charles Wallace Writer’s fellow, University of Stirling, she was invited four time over as a creative-writing mentor to Iowa’s International Writing Programs - Summer Institute 2019 and Between the Lines 2022, 2023, and 2024. She also teaches poetry at the Himalayan Writing Retreat. Her writings have been translated into Arabic, Hungarian, French, Spanish, Hindi, Marathi, Macedonian, and German. Widely-anthologized, she has read her poetry in India, Bali, Iowa, Macao, Stirling, Glasgow, Hongkong, Ukraine, Hungary, Bangladesh, Nepal, Dubai, and the Gold Coast, Australia.

She was granted an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Sanskriti University, Mathura by the former President of India Mr. Ram Nath Kovind. Her first screenplay was an NFDC India Screenwriters Lab 2018 selection and won a quarterfinalist at the Atlanta Film Festival 2020. Two of her projects were in the Top 30 Book to Box Office vertical of NFDC Film Bazaar 2023, Goa. Her short film scripts Catharsis, Salad, and Ali Guli Maane have won accolades in short script and playwright competitions. Her short film Salad based in Goa (Shezari) directed by Sonu Anand will release soon. Her latest novels are: The D’Costa Family – a black comedic debut around Goans, greed, and gangsters; and The Fabric Goddesses about three women around the global fashion and garment industry.
@rochellepotkar (X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIN)