Karan Madhok is an Indian writer, journalist, and editor. He is the author of MONKEY! (2026) Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis In India (2024), which won the 2025 REC-Valley of Words Award, and the critically-acclaimed debut, A Beautiful Decay (2022), all published by the Aleph Book Company.
Karan’s creative work and journalism has appeared in the anthology A Case of Indian Marvels: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers (Aleph Book Company 2022), Epiphany, Sycamore Review, Gargoyle Magazine, The Bombay Review, and The Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2022, Frontline, NBA, SLAM Magazine, Fifty Two, The Plank, FirstPost, Frontline, Scroll, The Caravan, FountainInk, etc.
Karan is the editor and co-founder of the Indian Arts and Culture website The Chakkar and the co-founder and co-organiser of the Landour Literature & Arts Festival [LLAF]. He is also the founder and author of the Hoopistani blog on Indian basketball.
A graduate of the MFA programme from the American University in Washington D.C., Karan won the University's 2018 Myra Skralew Award for the best MFA Thesis (prose). He is usually busy eating butter chicken and rooting for the New York Knicks.
You can find him on:
Instagram: @karanmadhok
Facebook: @karanmadhok