Anjum Katyal is an editor, writer, translator and critic. She is the author of Habib Tanvir: Towards an Inclusive Theatre and Badal Sircar: Towards a Theatre of Conscience. She has translated Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor and Hirma ki Amar Kahani (The Living Tale of Hirma), as well as Usha Ganguli’s Rudali and stories by Mahasweta Devi and Meera Mukherjee. She is translating Habib Tanvir’s Bahadur Kalarin.
She has worked as the Chief Editor, Seagull Books, Calcutta (1987–2006) and Editor, Seagull Theatre Quarterly (1994–2004), as well as the Web Editor, Saregama-HMV (2006–11) and Editor, Art and the City, a web magazine on the contemporary arts in India (2010–13). As the editorial head of a specialist arts publisher, she was responsible for a broad range of books on art and culture between 1987 and 2006. She has been involved in organising several exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as writing catalogues for exhibitions by Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Somnath Hore, Manu Parekh, Madhvi Parekh, Reba Hore and Nasreen Moochhala. She has a background in education and teacher training. A published poet, she also sings the blues, and writes on theatre and the visual arts.
She is currently the Director of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival and Consultant (Publications) for the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies.