Shobhaa De: News

A novelist and columnist famous for the depiction of sexual and socialite-based things in her work, Shobhaa De, is popularly called the "Jackie Collins of India." Born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra, De completed her college degree from Mumbai and started a career in modeling at the age of 17. While working as a model, she also started working as a journalist and wrote advice columns called 'agony aunt' in a magazine. At 23, De founded and started writing for the magazine ‘Stardust’, which included Bollywood gossips, celebrity interviews, photographs, etc. In the 1980s, she started writing for the Sunday magazine section in 'The Times of India' and has been writing columns for the various newspapers since. De has also worked as a writer for a few daily soaps of Indian television. Her first novel 'Socialite Evenings' was published in 1989. Many newspaper writers have appreciated De's representation of womenfolk in her books. Her second novel ‘Starry Nights’ was published in 1991 and broke many stereotypical notions with its cover page. The novelist also stated her publishing imprint along with Penguin Books in 2010 called Shobhaa De Books.