Who is Neil D’Silva?

Neil D’Silva is a Mumbai-based author of Indian fiction. He is a prolific writer with numerous books published, and has upcoming titles with Penguin Random House, Rupa Publications, and Hachette India. All his books have ranked within the top 10 in their categories on Amazon India, often reaching the #1 bestseller spot. He primarily writes horror.

His debut, Maya’s New Husband, was a bestselling novel on Amazon.in (horror), having stayed in the top ten for close to two years. His name appears in several anthologies. He has curated and edited an anthology titled City of Screams (Half Baked Beans) where he had the opportunity to judge and mentor several upcoming horror writers of India. Neil is the winner of several literary competitions, including a short-story competition organized by the Delhi Literature Festival in collaboration with the publishing company Readomania. His website http://NeilDSilva.com/ was recently awarded at the prestigious Indian blogger Awards 2017. He was listed as a Quora Top Writer for 2017 and 2018.

He was listed in UK’s DESIblitz magazine among the Top 7 Indian Horror Authors to be read. He is a member of India’s Screen Writers’ Association and the US-based Horror Writers Association. His articles have appeared in the US-based MONSTER! magazine.

Neil mentors aspiring writers through workshops and events. He is regularly invited to conduct events in many prestigious events across Mumbai and outside. He has been a judge for both Malhar Festival of St. Xavier’s College and Umang Festival of N. M. College, and the literature festival of Bombay Scottish School. He has conducted workshops and attended panel discussions in institutions such as N. M. College, Mithibai College, Ruia College, Lilavatibai Podar School, Ajmera Global School, Children’s Academy School, Vibgyor High School, and many others. He was the keynote speaker for Andheri Literature Festival 2018. He was a speaker at the Shimla International Literary Festival 2019, Pune International Literature Festival 2019, and will appear in the first edition of the Jammu Literary Festival 2019.

Neil D’Silva has also given a TED talk on The Art of Writing a Bestseller in September 2018.

The online writers’ community he founded on Facebook, named For Writers, By Authors, now has over 18000 members, included several celebrated authors from India’s literary world. This community also spearheads the annual literary festival Litventure, which is a brainchild of Neil D’Silva. Litventure celebrated its fourth chapter in November 2018.

As a scriptwriter, he has written screenplays and scripts for shows and short films, catering to children as well as adults. He has conceived and written Funtime with Shiny and Sasha, a kids’ YouTube animation series released by the RDC Channel. The show brought the channel over 4 million subscribers and was translated into many Indian and foreign languages. He is currently working on developing daily TV shows for a major channel which is based on two of his books, and writing for other TV shows, web-series, and movies. He is a sought-after name in the Indian media industry for his horror content and is working with some big names in the genre. He was the principal and a teacher at an educational institute in Mumbai named Disha Educentre from 1998 to 2016.

Achievements
Listed among the ‘Top 7 Indian Horror Authors to be read’ by UK’s DESIblitz magazine.
Selected member of the international Horror Writers’ Association.
Winner of the Entertainer of the Year at the Literary Awards 2015 organized by Authors’
Ink Publications and Inside Stories for the book Maya’s New Husband.
Winner of Short Story Competition organized by Delhi Literature Festival and Readomania.
This short story titled Knot of Shame appears in the anthology When They Spoke.
Website http://NeilDSilva.com/ was named as the best site in the short stories category at
the Indiblogger Awards 2017.
Named as Quora Top Writer 2017 and 2018.
Won the Young Achiever Award 2017-18 from his alma mater, the Children’s Academy
Group of Schools.

Connect
Facebook — https://facebook.com/neildsilvaofficial/
Twitter — https://twitter.com/neildsilva/
Instagram — https://instagram.com/neilvalentinedsilva/
Email — neilvalentinedsilva@gmail.com
Website — http://NeilDSilva.com/

Books and Accolades

Maya’s New Husband
Released in January 2015, Maya’s New Husband has consistently stayed on the top of Amazon India horror charts. It was a winner of the Entertainer of the Year Award at the Literary Awards 2015 conducted by Authors’ Ink Publications and Inside Stories. It was also a winner of NaNoWriMo 2014. The book is now published with Readify. It was also featured in a TED talk delivered by noted personality Arvind Mishra. Exclusive pitching rights of the book have been acquired by a leading production company for a major visual adaptation. Maya’s New Husband was acquired for publishing by Locksley Hall Publications in 2019.

Link: http://mybook.to/MNH

The Evil Eye and the Charm / Bound in Love
Both these short story collections were released in mid-2015 as self-published books to a great response. They hit #1 on the Amazon’s Hot New Releases category on the very first day of their release. Stories from both the books have already been adapted into short movies and the books’ traditional publishing rights have been acquired by Readify. The book has been optioned for a visual adaptation by Story Ink.

Links: http://mybook.to/EEC and http://mybook.to/BIL

Pishacha

Pishacha was digitally released in November 2016, followed by a paperback release in February 2017. It was published by Frontier India Technology under their BruteGorilla imprint. The eBook version hit the top 10 of Amazon.in (horror) in early March 2017. Pishacha has earned great critical acclaim and is in talks with a major production house for a movie adaptation.

Link: http://mybook.to/PSH 

Yakshini
Yakshini was self-published on Amazon Kindle in October 2017. The book has reached #1 on Amazon India (horror) and has achieved Amazon Bestseller status. It was also #1 on Amazon Hot New Releases a few days after release. Yakshini has been acquired for a TV show adaptation by the production house Lotus Talkies.
The publishing rights of Yakshini have now been acquired by India’s leading publication house,
Rupa Publications, for a nationwide commercial release to be retailed in all top bookstore
chains.

Link: http://mybook.to/YKS

Right Behind You
Right Behind You is a collection of thirteen horror stories published in November 2017, by publishers StoryMirror and Readify. Right Behind You has generated much interest as a concept and for its multigenre horror stories that have rarely been done in India before. The book is consistently on the top Amazon ranks for the horror genre in its paperback edition.

When They Spoke
Neil D’Silva’s story The Knot of Shame is one of the 29 stories in the anthology When They Spoke. The story was a winner of the Short Story Competition organized by the Delhi Literature Festival and Readomania. The book is published by Readomania and is also available on the
Juggernaut app.

Vengeance: A Sting in Every Tale
Neil D’Silva’s story That Which Does Not Kill You appears in the first Wrimo India anthology titled Vengeance. Wrimo India is the Indian wing of the global NaNoWriMo organization.

Upcoming Titles:

Haunted: Real-life Encounters with Ghosts and Spirits 

To be released in October 2019, this book chronicles the real-life accounts of one of India’s leading paranormal investigator, Jay Alani, who is also the co-author of the book. Haunted will see a wide commercial release. The book is released by Penguin Random House India.

Ghost Whispers
To be released in 2020, this book is Neil D’Silva’s take on paranormal phenomena, and will be interspersed with several real-life examples as encountered by India’s youngest demonologist, Sarbajeet Mohanty, who is also the co-author of this book.
Ghost Whispers will be released by Rupa Publications.

Spirits Talk to Me
To be released in 2020, this book deals directly with the real-life paranormal encounters of India’s youngest demonologist Sarbajeet Mohanty, who is also the co-author of this book.
Spirits Talk to Me will be released by Hachette India.

Sapna’s Bad Connection
A digital horror story set in Mumbai, Sapna’s Bad Connection is Neil’s full-length novel. The story has already stirred the interests of several people in the media industry for an adaptation.
Sapna’s Bad Connection is currently being pitched for publication by The Book Bakers and for a screen adaptation by Story Ink.

Events
Neil D’Silva has been invited to several events across the country as a speaker. He talks on publishing and writing fiction. He has been covered in the press for some of his events, including a press mention for the launch of his book Pishacha.

Litventure 

Neil D’Silva was a prominent speaker at all three chapters of Litventure in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Litventure, Mumbai’s first and only litfest targeted for schools, is Neil D’Silva’s brainchild and is going from strength to strength. Several celebrity authors have graced the stage of Litventure. Owing to Litventure, D’Silva has created a great rapport with the author fraternity of India.

Apart from this, he has been invited to speak at the following events:
1. A talk with members of the Bangalore Writers’ Workshop where he was invited to talk about marketing and promoting books for aspiring authors.
2. A discussion on writing and publishing in India at The Writers’ Perspectives, an event organized by the Indore-based community, Rising Litera.
3. A panel discussion titled Enriching Minds 2015 at Mumbai’s Ruia College with other celebrities from the world of arts.
4. A talk with the Book Exchange Club on horror writing, hosted by StoryMirror.
5. A talk with members of the Mumbai Book Club to talk on horror writing and publishing in India.
6. Several events such as talks, discussions, workshops, judging competitions, etc. for students and teachers of Children’s Academy on reading and creative writing.
7. As organizer, planner, and judge for the esteemed Late Shri V. V. Bhat Memorial Trophy Competitions, an interschool event hosted by Children’s Academy since 2010.

8. A lecture on the importance of reading for the teachers of the Fazlani High School, hosted by the charitable Aishabai Trust Foundation.
9. To conduct a workshop on Horror Writing at N M College during Rotofest 2016 college festival.
10. To judge Spin It Off, a fanfic writing contest at Mithibai College during #YuvaHashtag 2017.
11. As a conductor of a workshop titled Make Money Writing to speak about his freelance writing career. This was an event organized by MumbaiMom.com.
12. As a facilitator for a workshop titled Write and Publish Your Book NOW organized by SheThePeople.TV at the Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan.
13. As a speaker at The Immersive Project, a venture of Kaffeinated Konversations in Indore. The event was widely mentioned in press, including The Times of India, Indore Edition.
14. As a facilitator for a workshop for B.Ed. teachers on the topic How Reading Can Change Your Life. This workshop was conducted by the Aishabai Charitable Trust and was attended by over 40 teachers from all over Mumbai schools.
15. As a facilitator for a Horror Writing Workshop organized by the publishers Half Baked Beans. The event was attended by aspiring writers of the horror genre.
16. As a speaker for the Conclave at N M College to speak about his journey as a writer.
17. As a keynote speaker at the Andheri Literature Festival 2018, an event organized by VeeRaise.
18. As a facilitator at Ajmera Global School for a talk on horror writing.
19. As a facilitator at Vibgyor Roots and Rise School for a talk on ‘Starting Young’.
20. As a speaker at the Infinitus Fete of Lilavatibai Podar School on The Art of Writing a Horror Story.

Neil D’Silva also gave a TEDx talk on The Art of Writing a Bestseller on 1 September 2018. The
link of the talk is as follows:
https://youtu.be/F-xlTosZNQA

In the Press

Coverage of The Immersive Project in Dainik Bhaskar.

Views on writing horror covered in Nai Dunia.

Launch of Pishacha covered in Nai Dunia.

Horror Writing Workshop with Half Baked Beans covered in Mid-Day