Shankari Chandran uses literary fiction to explore injustice, dispossession and the creation of community.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is her third novel, published by Ultimo Press in 2022 and short-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023. Her first novel, Song of the Sun God, was also re-published by Ultimo Press in 2022.

Before turning to fiction, Shankari worked in the social justice field for a decade in London where she was responsible for projects in over 30 countries ranging from ensuring representation for detainees in Guantanamo Bay to advising UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Her work helped her understand the role and limitations of international humanitarian law in conflicts. It also showed her what happens to society when governments subvert civil liberties. These issues form major themes in her writing.

Shankari wanted to write from childhood but kept her stories and her courage inside her head for a long time. She finally committed to creative writing when faced with the life changing events of returning from London to her home in Australia, and the birth of her fourth child in 2010.

In January 2017, she published her first book, Song of the Sun God with Perera-Hussein, about three generations of Australian Tamil women and the choices they make to survive Sri Lanka's civil war. Her second book, The Barrier, was published by Pan Macmillan Australia in June 2017. It asks, what would happen to the world if an Ebola pandemic and religious wars converged?

Song of the Sun God was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award (2019) and short-listed for Sri Lanka's Fairway National Literary Award (2018). The Barrier was short-listed for the Norma K Hemming Award for Speculative Fiction (2018). Song of the Sun God is being adapted for television, starring Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran (no relation).

Her short stories have been published in the critically acclaimed anthologies, Another Australia and Sweatshop Women (Vol 2) by Affirm Press/Sweatshop and she is the deputy chair of Writing NSW.

She continues her work in social impact for an Australian national retailer. She is based in Sydney, Australia, where she lives with her husband and her four children.