Pallavi Aiyar is an award-winning foreign correspondent and author. She writes a weekly newsletter on global travel and culture, The Global Jigsaw, at: https://pallaviaiyar.substack.com.

She is also Adjunct Professor in the Media and Communications department at IE University in Madrid, Spain (August 2022-present) where she teaches an elective titled Global Media, Local Lenses, in addition to running workshops on cross-cultural communication and creative writing.

Pallavi has spent over two decades reporting from across China, Europe, Indonesia and Japan contributing to publications that include, The New York Times, Granta, The Monocle, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Noema Magazine, The Sunday Telegraph, The South China Morning Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Caravan, The Hindu, The Indian Express, Nikkei Asian Review, The Indian Quarterly, Mint, The Wire, Verve, Politica Exterior and El Pais.

She is the author of eight books, including two novels.

Her debut book, “Smoke and Mirrors” (2008, Harper Collins), examined the differential political and social systems in China and India through a blend of memoir and reportage. It won the 2008, Vodafone-Crossword Popular award.

Her latest book is about Japan, titled “Orienting: An Indian in Japan,” (July 2021, Harper Collins India/Hakusuisha, Tokyo 2022). It analyzes the underlying cultural and aesthetic values that underpin Japan, while triangulating her conclusions with comparisons to India and China. The book was shortlisted for the AutHer awards 2022, in the non-fiction category.

Her book on contemporary Europe’s crises, “Punjabi Parmesan: Dispatches from a Europe in Crisis,” (Penguin 2013) was published in the United States as “New Old World: An Indian Journalist Discovers the Changing Face of Europe” (Macmillan 2015). It was selected as “one of the best books on Europe in 2016”, by Foreign Affairs magazine.

Other books include Jakarta Tails: The Continuing Adventures of Soyabean and Tofu (Harper Collins 2020), the anthology, A Thousand Cranes for India: Reclaiming Plurality Amid Hatred (Seagull publishers, 2020), Babies and Bylines: Parenting on the Move (Harper Collins India 2016) and Choked! (Juggernaut, 2017), an in-depth look at the crisis of air pollution in New Delhi and Beijing.

Her 2011 novel, Chinese Whiskers: The Adventures of Soyabean and Tofu, a modern fable set in Beijing, was published in the United States (Macmillan), Italy (Feltrinelli), Belgium (Lanoo) and India (Harper Collins).

She was lead author of a special Lonely Planet guide to China (2011) for the Indian market.

Pallavi was selected by the World Economic Forum as a 2014 Young Global Leader. She was also a member of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Information, Media and Entertainment between 2016-2018.

Pallavi was awarded the 2007 Prem Bhatia memorial prize for excellence in political reporting for her dispatches from China, where she served as China Bureau Chief for The Hindu newspaper between 2005-2009. In 2010, she was recognized by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for her work in furthering Sino-Indian relations.

Pallavi has presented her works at literary festivals around the world including the Berlin, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bangalore, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Makassar, Hay-Segovia and Ubud literary festivals. She has also presented at the German Marshall Fund India Forum, the annual conference of the Association of Asian Studies, the Asia Society in New York and Mumbai, Columbia University, The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, NIIT University in Neemrana, The London School of Economics, The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), IMD in Lausanne and the Elcano Institute in Madrid.

Pallavi was a Reuters Fellow at Oxford University (2007). She was also a Brains Trust member of the IMD-based think tank, the Evian Institute.

Pallavi has first class degrees from Delhi University (St Stephens College, BA in Philosophy 1993-1996), Oxford University (MA in Modern History 1996-1998), the London School of Economics and the University of Southern California (MSc in Global Media and Communications 2000-2002). She has a 2016 executive education certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

She is currently based in Madrid, Spain.