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{{short description|Indian writer, director and artist|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{notability|bio|date=March 2025}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2025}}
}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Venita Coelho
| image = Venita coelho author.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}
| birth_place = [[Dehra Dun]],<br/>undivided [[Uttar Pradesh]]<br/>(now part of [[Uttarakhand]]), [[India]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer, director and artist
| language = [[English language|English]]
| education =
| period = First television series written and directed by in 1987 (''Head Over Heels''). First book published in 2007.
| pseudonym =
| genre = [[Novel]], [[short story]]
| movement =
| notableworks = Film, television, children's literature. ''Washer of the Dead'' and ''Boy No.32''.
| alma_mater = [Loreto Day School, Dharamtala, Kolkata] [[St. Xavier's College, Kolkata]], [[Sophia College for Women]], [[Mumbai]]
| awards = ''[[The Hindu]]'': Good Reads award for best fiction for children 2016.
| website = {{URL|facebook.com/officialvenitacoelho}}
| portaldisp =
}}
'''Venita Coelho''' is an Indian writer, director and artist who lives in [[Goa]].<ref name="Scholastic">{{cite web |title=Author profile |url=http://scholastic.co.in/en/authors/venita-coelho |accessdate=22 July 2018 |archive-date=5 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605003931/http://scholastic.co.in/en/authors/venita-coelho |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Sify News">{{cite web |title=Venita Coelho – the woman who ran away from Television |website=[[Sify]] |url=http://www.sify.com/news/venita-coelho-the-woman-who-ran-away-from-television-imagegallery-features-ki0qfJbeddesi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323122717/http://www.sify.com/news/venita-coelho-the-woman-who-ran-away-from-television-imagegallery-features-ki0qfJbeddesi.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 23, 2015 |accessdate=22 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="Harper Collins Profile">{{cite web |title=Venita Coelho |url=https://harpercollins.co.in/author-details/venita-coelho/ |accessdate=22 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="Kurian">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/children/power-in-her-pen/article23250727.ece|title=POWER in her pen|last=Kurian|first=Nimi|date=2018-03-15|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Born in [[Dehra Dun]], [[Uttarakhand]], Coelho grew up and was educated in [[Kolkata]], where she attended [[St. Xavier's College, Kolkata|St. Xavier's College]]. She moved to [[Mumbai]] ([[Bombay]]), and did her diploma in social communications [[Media studies|media]] from [[Sophia College]]<ref name="Rediff news">{{cite web |title=When you think out of the box, they fire you |url=http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2010/jul/02/specials-interview-with-author-venita-coelho.htm |accessdate=22 July 2018}}</ref>

==Career: media and books==
After working in film and television,<ref name="Harper Collins Profile"/> she re-located to Goa. She is the author of books<ref name="Kurian"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/venita-coelho/1041430/|title=Venita Coelho Books {{!}} List of books by author Venita Coelho|last=ThriftBooks|website=ThriftBooks|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> including ''Dead As A Dodo'', which won The Sahitya Akademi Bal Puruskar for 2020 and ''The Hindu'' Good Reads award for best fiction for children 2016.

==In films and TV==
Her career in television started as an intern at [[UTV Software Communications|UTV]] in [[Mumbai]]. She has since written, produced and directed shows. She has since worked at [[Sony Entertainment Television]], [[Endemol India]], [[Nimbus Communications Limited|Nimbus]] and [[Cinevistaas Ltd]].<ref name="Harper Collins Profile" /> Coelho has written the daily soap ''Trikaal'' and [[Karan Johar]]'s adaptation of ''[[Stepmom (1998 film)|Stepmom]]'', ''[[We Are Family (2010 film)|We are Family.]]''<ref name="Rediff news" /> She also wrote the script for ''[[Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin]]'' in 2003.<ref name="Sify News" />

==Works==
* ''Dungeon Tales'' (Scholastic India)
* ''Tiger by the Tail'' (Hachette India) -- Nominated for the Neev Literary Award 2018)<ref name="NLA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.educationworld.in/neev-literature-festival-announces-shortlist-for-neev-childrens-book-awards/|title=Neev Literature Festival announces shortlist for 'NEEV Children's Book Awards' - EducationWorld|website=www.educationworld.in|date=25 September 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref>
* ''Boy No. 32''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jayabhattacharjirose.com/an-interview-with-venita-coelho-boy-no-32/|title=An interview with Venita Coelho, "Boy No. 32" {{!}} Jaya's blog|website=www.jayabhattacharjirose.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> (nominated for the Neev Literary Award 2018)<ref name="NLA" />
* ''Soap! Writing and Surviving Television in India'' (Harper Collins India)
* ''Dead as Dodo'' (winner of ''The Hindu''/Good Reads Award for Best Fiction for Children 2016)<ref name="NLA" /> Winner of The "Sahitya Akademi" "Bal Puruskar" 2020
* ''Monkey See Monkey Do'' (nominated for ''The Hindu''/Good Reads Award for the Best Fiction for Children 2017. Nominated for the Neev Literary Award 2018)
* ''The Washer of the Dead: A Collection of Ghost Stories'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://zubaanbooks.com/bookauthor/venita-coelho/|title=Venita Coelho {{!}} Author {{!}} Zubaan|website=zubaanbooks.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> called "a ghost folklore from a feminist perspective" (Zubaan/ Penguin India). Recommended by Erica Jong<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://theweek.com/articles/575412/erica-jong-recommends-6-books-that-deal-death|title=Erica Jong recommends 6 books that deal with death|date=2015-09-06|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> as one of the ten best books on death and dying, this collection of feminist ghost stories was long listed for the Frank O'Connor award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.munsterlit.ie/FOC%20Award%20page.html|title=FOC Award|website=www.munsterlit.ie|access-date=2018-10-22|archive-date=2012-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512022257/http://www.munsterlit.ie/FOC%20Award%20page.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==In art==
Coelho works in oils and acrylics on canvas and glass.

==Columns and the media==
She wrote a column for ''[[The Indian Express]]'' titled "The Tale of Two Cities", and other columns for ''[[The Indian Express]]'', ''[[The Asian Age]]'' and ''[[O Heraldo]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coelho, Venita}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Sophia College for Women alumni]]

Venita Coelho - Revision history

Teena29I554: stub