Bhavika Govil was born in New Delhi and dreams of the sea. Her debut Hot Water was published with Fourth Estate, HarperCollins India in April 2025. It has been shortlisted for the 2025 Godrej Literature Live! Award for Best First Book - Fiction and the 2025 Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman Awards for Best Debut. Hot Water is being translated into other languages.

Bhavika’s short fiction has won the Bound Short Story Prize, been shortlisted for the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, and can be read in Wasafiri, Extra Teeth, Gutter, A Case of Indian Marvels and elsewhere. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh.

When she isn’t writing, Bhavika teaches creative writing workshops online and in person. She lives in New Delhi.

HOT WATER

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 RAMNATH GOENKA SAHITHYA SAMMAN AWARDS

WINNER OF THE PONTAS & JJ BOLA EMERGING WRITERS PRIZE

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READING CORNER

FICTION

Short stories about people, love & disappearing cats

NON-FICTION

Pieces on food, travel and culture

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With my found family, celebrating good things, happy things and hopefully, better ones to come x 🩵
I read my first book of the year in Mexico, devouring it like plump cocktail olives, smacking my lips as the protagonist made questionable choices, soaking up its bitter caustic tone, its indulgent food writing, like warm olive oil in bread. Eventual
Sleepless in
Hot Water in Vogue 🔥🌊 Words by @treaparty
In my lane, moisturising, sunscreening, reading fun pink books and some serious-serious books, writing stories and going on long walks, and hugging people I love so much that they’re like omggg get off of me! but I won’t 🥰 Also, my favo
I seem to resist this every year—resolutions, commitments, ardent promises to oneself and the world to do better, eat better, be better—but only from the first of a month. With resolutions comes a sense of not having done enough the year