Natasha Soobramanien is a British-Mauritian writer known for her collaborative work in fiction. She explores literature and the visual arts, focusing on form, voice and power. She received the Goldsmiths Prize in 2022 for her novel Diego Garcia.
She was born and raised in North London to Mauritian parents. Her father's role in the Royal Air Force meant the family moved frequently, spending time in Hong Kong and Hastings. She was educated at the University of Hull before completing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia.
Her first novel, Genie and Paul (2012), was developed during her doctoral studies. Later translated into French by Nathacha Appanah and published by Gallimard/Continents Noirs (2018), the book reinterprets Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's eighteenth-century novel Paul et Virginie in a modern setting. It explores themes of displacement and belonging through the story of two Mauritian siblings growing up in London.
Soobramanien is best known for her collaborative novel Diego Garcia (2022), written with Luke Williams. The book follows two writer friends, Damaris and Oliver, who move to Edinburgh and meet a poet, Diego Garcia. He tells the story of the Chagos Islands, from which the British government forcibly removed his mother and the Chagossian people between 1968 and 1973.
The novel interweaves personal narrative with political history, questioning the role of literature in bearing witness. The writing process lasted a decade, and early drafts appeared in The White Review, BOMB magazine, and other publications.
Diego Garcia won the Goldsmiths Prize in 2022, the first time a collaborative novel has won the award. The prize recognises fiction that challenges traditional novelistic structures.
Judge Ali Smith called it an "extraordinary achievement", while Tim Parnell, chair of the judges, described it as "funny, moving and angry". He noted that her form responds to the "dogmatism of single-voice fiction" with a structure shaped by shared authorship.
In addition to her novels, Soobramanien has contributed to editorial and public projects. She has collaborated with If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want to Be Part of Your Revolution and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten.
She has also worked on writing and performance events such as Plastic Words (Raven Row, London, 2015) and Smarginature (Lydgalleriet, Bergen, 2016).
Natasha Soobramanien currently lives in Brussels.
Photo credit: Piet Zwart Institute
She was born and raised in North London to Mauritian parents. Her father's role in the Royal Air Force meant the family moved frequently, spending time in Hong Kong and Hastings. She was educated at the University of Hull before completing a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia.
Her first novel, Genie and Paul (2012), was developed during her doctoral studies. Later translated into French by Nathacha Appanah and published by Gallimard/Continents Noirs (2018), the book reinterprets Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's eighteenth-century novel Paul et Virginie in a modern setting. It explores themes of displacement and belonging through the story of two Mauritian siblings growing up in London.
Soobramanien is best known for her collaborative novel Diego Garcia (2022), written with Luke Williams. The book follows two writer friends, Damaris and Oliver, who move to Edinburgh and meet a poet, Diego Garcia. He tells the story of the Chagos Islands, from which the British government forcibly removed his mother and the Chagossian people between 1968 and 1973.
The novel interweaves personal narrative with political history, questioning the role of literature in bearing witness. The writing process lasted a decade, and early drafts appeared in The White Review, BOMB magazine, and other publications.
Diego Garcia won the Goldsmiths Prize in 2022, the first time a collaborative novel has won the award. The prize recognises fiction that challenges traditional novelistic structures.
Judge Ali Smith called it an "extraordinary achievement", while Tim Parnell, chair of the judges, described it as "funny, moving and angry". He noted that her form responds to the "dogmatism of single-voice fiction" with a structure shaped by shared authorship.
In addition to her novels, Soobramanien has contributed to editorial and public projects. She has collaborated with If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want to Be Part of Your Revolution and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten.
She has also worked on writing and performance events such as Plastic Words (Raven Row, London, 2015) and Smarginature (Lydgalleriet, Bergen, 2016).
Natasha Soobramanien currently lives in Brussels.
Photo credit: Piet Zwart Institute
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