Theatre found Sharmila when she was pregnant. The birth of her son coincided with selection for the Royal Court’s writing programme. Her play Born Again/Purnajanam was performed in January 2012 at Southwark Playhouse as part of Tagore’s Women (Directed by Janet Steel of Kali). When Spring Comes, an exploration of the Asian Ugandan exodus, was performed in autumn 2012 (Dir: Domonic Hingorani) in conjunction with Tamasha and South Asian Lit Fest. Sharmila was twice nominated for the Asian New Writer award and her short stories have been published in print and online, and she is also working on a novel. Trained as a pharmacist, with a PhD in clinical pharmacology, Sharmila gave up academia to follow the writer’s life. Fascinated by the quiet meaning of people’s lives: her work is often a transgressive meditation on love, sex and exploration of the diaspora. She lives in London with her husband, son and cat Tashi.