Ira Mathur

Ira Mathur is an Indian-born Trinidad and Tobago multimedia freelance journalist, Sunday Guardian columnist and writer. The longest-running columnist for the Sunday Guardian, she has been writing an op-ed for the paper since 1995, except for a hiatus from 2003 to 2004 when she wrote for the Daily Express. She has written more than eight hundred columns on politics, economics, social, health and developmental issues, locally, regionally and internationally.

Biography
Mathur is "the offspring of a Muslim mother and a Hindu army officer", was educated in India and the UK, and holds a liberal arts degree in Literature and Philosophy from Trent University in Canada, as well as an LLB from the University of London and a Master's in International Journalism from City University, London.

Her memoir Love the Dark Days (Peepal Tree Press) is the winner of the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction, and shortlisted for the overall prize. It was also named as among the best biographies of 2022 by the UK Guardian. In 2021 she was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award for her unpublished novel Touching Dr Simone. Mathur gained diplomas in creative writing at the University of East Anglia/Guardian with Gillian Slovo and James Scudamore and at The Faber Academy with Maggie Gee. She is currently the Trinidad Guardian’s longest-running columnist and has freelanced for the UK Guardian and the BBC. In October 2021, Mathur was appointed uncontested president of the Media Association of T&T (MATT) at its Annual General Meeting.

Awards

 * 1996: Media Excellence Awards Royal Bank/ Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago - Best Commentary (Print)
 * 2018: Second prize winner of the Caribbean-based Small Axe Literary Competition for short fiction.
 * 2023: Winner of the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction.