The cool feminist!

The multiple award-winning author, journalist and speaker has had an eventful year. Aside from publishing articles, speaking at lit fests and debating on TV panels, the author published the bestselling book ‘Feminist Rani’ (Penguin Random House, 2018). She won the Laadli Media Award (2018) for her writing on gender equality, her third award in as many years. She was featured in the Harper's Bazaar 'Hotlist' of top female authors of 2018, and in Femina's 'Heroes of Act 2'. 

Her short story ‘Cows That Glow’ was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (2018), one of the world's biggest short story awards. Her short story ‘Boongthing’ featured in Namita Gokhale's anthology ‘The Himalayan Arc’ and was effusively praised by all major publications. Pant was a mentor for Hilary Clinton's initiative ‘Vital Voices’ that promotes women empowerment. She was also one of the leading voices of the #MeToo movement, and chaired India's first #MeToo conference in alliance with Firstpost. 

Here's what Grazia said of the list: 'The wokest entertainers, hippest artists and bucket-list breakthroughs - our rundown of the people defining style, shaping culture and appropriating the national conversation.' The other mentions on the list included AyushmannKhurrana, Vicky Kaushal, KubbraSait, Sanya Malhotra and Sriram Raghavan, among others. 

"If a singular individual could embody the notion of having it all, it's Meghna Pant. A new mother, Pant has been a business news anchor, a TEDx speaker, and an activist, Oh, she's also an award-winning author. It’s hard to believe that's not what she's been doing from the get-go. 'I was doing everything that children growing up in the '80's were told to do - acquire collective degrees and hone your mathematical skills. Nobody asked you to be creative. 

And while I was immersed in the world of financial reportage, I felt like there was a gap in my life. I was a victim of domestic abuse, which was a wound that wouldn't heal. So, writing for me is like a balm,' says Pant. While the author has published several successful books, her latest offering is Feminist Rani, an anthology of interviews from industry disruptors like Kalki Koechlin, Gul Panag and Aditi Mittal. 

"When we think about feminism, people always imagine angry women who hate men. But my brand of feminism doesn't endorse women versus men, but women and men versus patriarchy that has been unjust to both. The book tries to dispel those stereotypes."

  Pant's upcoming book ‘How to Get Published in India’ (Bloomsbury) is India’s first and only comprehensive book on writing, publishing and selling a book.