[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3204″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][title title=”Mahesh Rao” title_text=”” float=”text-left” style=”style-1″][vc_column_text]Author[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Bio” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Mahesh Rao is a novelist and short story writer. His short fiction has been shortlisted for various awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Baffler, Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar. His debut novel, ‘The Smoke Is Rising’, won the Tata First Book Award for fiction. ‘One Point Two Billion’, his collection of short stories, was published in 2015, and his second novel, ‘Polite Society’, was published last year to critical acclaim. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]