Ayan Pal

Ayan Pal is an Indian author  and public speaker   who is best known for his novel Confessions on an Island,    as well as his acclaimed short stories in the anthologies Chronicles of Urban Nomads and 21 Tales to Tell. He has also co-authored India's first composite novel, Crossed and Knotted, which made it into the Limca Book of Records.

Early life and education
Pal was born in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) and raised in a Hindu matriarchal joint family along with his parents, grandmother, and aunts.

After being taught at St. Joseph's College, Calcutta, he went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology, Bangalore. He has also taken a course in Education Technology from San Diego State University, California.

Career
Pal is a member of Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization headquartered in.

In 2013, Pal received his highest award, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), for achieving both the Advanced Communication Gold and Advanced Leader Silver awards.

Pal's work as an author and writer formally began in 2014 when he was published in 21 Tales to Tell, as a result of being adjudged as one of the 21 best writers across India in a contest organized by Notion Press that saw over 4 lakh readers choose among 562 competing authors. He followed this up with critically acclaimed short stories in Chronicles of Urban Nomads and Her Story

In 2015, he co-authored India's first composite novel, Crossed and Knotted, which made it into the Limca Book of Records, and later in Rudraksha.

In 2016, Pal made his debut as a solo novelist with Confessions on an Island  and also contributed to When they Spoke. Later that year, he was a finalist in the Orange Flower Awards for Digital Creative Superstars (awarded by Women's Web in association with HarperCollins) for 2016 in the categories of Creative Writing and Humor.

In 2017, he participated in Saptan Stories, an initiative by British Council India and the Oscar-winning Aardman Animations that was developed as a part of the UK-India Year of Culture 2017. Heralded as the first-ever purely crowd-sourced short story art project in India, the contest saw seven artists from India and the UK illustrate the 6 winning entries, of which Pal had his storyline voted as the best entry twice during the 7 week-long contest. The same year, he was included by Writer's Social Networking Platform – Kalaage in the list of India's Top 100 New and Rising Authors.

In 2017, Pal was adjudged the national champion for impromptu speaking (Table Topics) for District 41 (serving North and East India).

In 2018, Pal was listed by the Hindustan Times as one of the "Five Indian short story writers to read" for readers who like stories that are told in fewer words.

He also contributes to the South Asian literary magazine Open Road Review and the literary social forum Readomania.

Novels

 * Crossed and Knotted (Kurious Kind Media, 2015)
 * Confessions on an Island (Kurious Kind Media, 2016)

Anthologies

 * 21 Tales to Tell (Notion Press, 2014)
 * Upper Cut (Red Ink Publishers, 2014)
 * Her Story (Petals Publishers, 2014)
 * Chronicles of Urban Nomads (Kurious Kind Media, 2014)
 * Rudraksha (Kurious Kind Media, 2015)
 * Long Story Short (Notion Press, 2015)
 * When They Spoke (Kurious Kind Media, 2016)
 * Tonight's The Night (Notion Press, 2016)
 * Arranged to Love (Notion Press, 2016)