Manu Joseph

Manu Joseph (born 22 July 1974)^[1][2] is an Indian journalist and writer. He is the former editor of Open magazine.

Manu Joseph
Born	(1974-07-22) 22 July 1974 (age 50) Kottayam, Kerala, India
Nationality	Indian
Education	Loyola College, Chennai
Occupations	Journalist Writer Author
Children	1

Life and career

Manu was born in Kottayam, Kerala, and grew up in Chennai. His father Joseph Madappally is a film-maker who directed the Malayalam film Thoranam (1987). He is a graduate of Loyola College, Chennai, and dropped out of Madras Christian College to become a staff writer at Society magazine.^[2] He is a former editor of Open magazine, and a columnist for The International New York Times and The Hindustan Times. In 2007, he was a Chevening Scholar.^[3] He currently lives in Delhi.^[2] His debut novel Serious Men (2010) won The Hindu Literary Prize and the PEN Open Book Award. It has been adapted by Sudhir Mishra as a feature film of the same name.^[4]

His second novel, The Illicit Happiness of Other People, was published in September 2012.^[5] He also wrote the screenplay for the film Love Khichdi (2009).^[6]

In January 2014, Manu resigned as editor of Open magazine.^[7]

Manu is the creator and writer of Decoupled, an Indian English-language comedy web series, which was released on Netflix on 17 December 2021.^[8]

Awards and honours

• 2010: The Hindu Literary Prize won for Serious Men^[9][10]
• 2010: Man Asian Literary Prize shortlisted for Serious Men^[11]
• 2010: Huffington Post′s 10 best books of the year for Serious Men^[12]
• 2011: Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize shortlisted for Serious Men^[13]
• 2011: PEN Open Book Award won for Serious Men^[14]
• 2013: The Hindu Literary Prize shortlisted for The Illicit Happiness of Other People^[15]

Works

• Joseph, Manu (2010). Serious Men (hardcover 1st ed.). HarperCollins India. ISBN 9788172238520.
• —— (2012). The Illicit Happiness of Other People (hardcover 1st ed.). Fourth Estate. ISBN 9789350293645.
• —— (2017). Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous (hardcover 1st ed.). Myriad Editions. ISBN 9789352770441.