Born in Madras, India, to a Welsh mother and Gujarati father, she received an Eric Gregory Award in 2001. Her first poetry collection, Countries of the Body, won the 2006 Forward Poetry Prize for best first collection. She was invited to the poetry galas of the Guardian-sponsored Hay Festival of 2006 and the Cartagena Hay Festival of 2007. Her first novel, The Pleasure Seekers, was published by Bloomsbury in 2010 and was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2011, and shortlisted for The Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010. She writes a blog titled "Hit or Miss" on Cricinfo, a cricket-related website. In the blog, which she started writing in April 2009, Tishani Doshi makes observations and commentaries as a television viewer of the second season of the Indian Premier League. She is also collaborating with cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan on his biography, to be published when he retires. She works as a freelance writer and worked with choreographer Chandralekha. Tishani was fortunate to be part of the dance troupe of Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel in Chennai. Chandralekha was the niece of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first deputy Prime Minister. She specialized in post-modern fusion of dance forms like Bharatanatyam with Yoga and martial arts like Kalarippayattu and Tishani was her pupil. Chandralekha's many productions, notably Angika, Lilavati, Prana, Sri, Yantra, Mahakal, Raga, Sloka and Sharira, have become the epitome of modern Indian dance. Tishani’s meeting with Chandra was a life-changing moment which helped her to see her real self – the possibility of being a dancer. The dance form ‘Sharira’, choreographed by Chandralekha was performed by Tishani for 15 years, and she continued to perform even after Chandralekha passed away in 2006. She graduated with a master's degree in creative writing from the Johns Hopkins University. Countries of the Body was launched in 2006 at the Hay-on-Wye festival on a platform with Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood, and others. The opening poem, "The Day we went to the Sea", won the 2005 British Council-supported All India Poetry Competition; she was also a finalist in the Outlook-Picador Non-Fiction Competition. Her short story "Lady Cassandra, Spartacus and the dancing man" was published in its entirety in the journal The Drawbridge in 2007. Her poetry collection, Everything Begins Elsewhere, was published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK in 2012 and by Copper Canyon Press in the US in 2013. Her most recent book of poetry, Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, was published by HarperCollins India in 2017. The UK edition, published by Bloodaxe Books in 2018, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. Tishani Doshi delivered the keynote address at the 13th annual St. Martin Book Fair on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten in 2015. Her book The Adulterous Citizen – poems stories essays was launched at the festival by House of Nehesi Publishers. Her 2019 book, Small Days and Nights, was shortlisted for the 2020 Ondaatje Prize.
