Siddharth Pandey

His first book of poetry, Fossil (2021), was a finalist for the Banff Mountain Book Awards in 2022.

• Name — Siddharth Pandey • Born — 8 July 1987 • Education — * B.A.(Hons) English, Delhi University • M.A. English, Delhi University • MPhil English, Delhi University • MPhil Children's Literature, Cambridge University • PhD Literature and Materiality Studies, Cambridge University • Occupation — Writer, literary scholar, cultural historian, curator, and photographer • Known for — * Writings on Indian hill stations • Writings on popular culture and cultural aesthetics • Writings on fantasy literature • Photography of landscapes and architecture • Notable Works — Fossil (2021)

Pandey obtained a BA (Hons), Masters (MA) and MPhil in English Literature from the Delhi University. After that, he obtained an MPhil in Children's Literature and a PhD in English and Materiality Studies from the University of Cambridge (2019). At Cambridge, he was based at the Homerton College. His doctoral advisor was Maria Nikolajeva. His doctoral thesis, titled Crafting, Conjuring, and the Aesthetic of Making: Towards a Materialistic Understanding of Fantasy, studies the ways in which ‘making’ - in forms such as human craftsmanship and non-human growth - impacts the creation of ‘wonder’ in the worlds of fantasy literature. Pandey has also pursued a parallel research interest in the evolving cultural and aesthetic politics of Shimla in particular and Himachal Pradesh more generally. Pandey has been the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships. Among others, these include a Cambridge Commonwealth Shared Scholarship, a Cambridge International Scholarship, Charles Wallace India Trust grants, and a research support grant from the Paul Mellon Centre. Pandey has held postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University and LMU Munich.

Jeffrey A. Auerbach writes of Pandey's essay 'Simla or Shimla: The Indian Political Re-appropriation of Little England' (2014) as a 'postcolonial counter-narrative' to the colonial, predominantly British origins of Shimla as the summer capital of the British Raj. An essay by Pandey on Indian hill stations appears in Between Heaven and Earth: Writings on the Indian Hills (2022), an anthology of eminent historical and contemporary non-fiction writing on Indian hills, selected and edited by Ruskin Bond and Bulbul Sharma. In her book review of this anthology in The Tribune, Sarika Sharma comments: "Siddharth Pandey's essay is a refreshing take on the femininity of hill stations in a country brimming with toxic masculinity."

Pandey's book Fossil (2021), his geo-mythological-poetic exploration of the Himalayas, was a finalist in the 'Mountain Fiction and Poetry' category at the Banff Mountain Book Festival of Canada in 2022. Banff mountain book awards are considered major recognitions for mountain literature in all forms from across the world. Fossil also features in the essay 'Otters for Books for Children and Families' by the British artist Jackie Morris on her website.

Pandey is a pianist, and has composed pieces inspired by Himalayan and Celtic influences. He also researches, writes, and gives lecdems on music.

• Pandey, Siddharth. Fossil. A Published Event, 2021.

Pandey has researched and written about fantasy and children's literature, hill stations in India, nature writing, craft theory, folk culture, cinema studies, and pop culture. Pandey's writings have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and academic anthologies. Pandey's writings have also appeared on several South Asian newspapers and mass-media forums. These include The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Pioneer, The Tribune, Frontline, Live Wire, Outlook, Quint, Scroll.in, and The News.

• Pandey, Siddharth. "Interrogating Masculinity through the Child Figure in Bombay Cinema." Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network 4, no. 1 (2011). • Pandey, Siddharth. "Simla or Shimla: The Indian political re-appropriation of Little England 1." In Consuming Architecture, pp. 133–153. Routledge, 2014. • Pandey, Siddharth. "Framing Simla: The Queen of Hill Stations and the Politics of Iconography". In Visual Histories of South Asia, pp.. Primus Books, 2018. • Pandey, Siddharth. "Crafting, Conjuring, and the Aesthetic of Making: Towards a Materialistic Understanding of Fantasy." PhD diss., 2019. • Pandey, Siddharth. "Emplacing Tasks of Magic: Hand, Land, and the Generation of Fantasy Taskscape in Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching Series." GeoHumanities 6, no. 1 (2020): 39-50. • Pandey, Siddharth. "" Handling" Wonder: Tools, Tasks, and the Enchantment of Materialistic Engagement in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy." The Lion and the Unicorn 46, no. 2 (2022): 224-243.