Ruchir Joshi is a film-maker and writer who lives in Calcutta. Joshi’s cinema work includes the non-fiction films Eleven Miles and Tales from Planet Kolkata. Joshi has worked as a free-lance columnist and essayist since the early 80s. In 2001, his first novel, The Last Jet-Engine Laugh, was published in India and in the UK. In 2009, Joshi edited the first collection of contemporary Indian erotic writing, Electric Feather, and in 2011 he published Poriborton – An Election Diary, a collection of vignettes from the state elections in West Bengal. This year, Joshi’s second novel, Great Eastern Hotel, has been published in India and the UK by 4th Estate. Joshi’s initial training was in visual arts and photography and throughout his working life he has maintained his practice of photography and drawing.