Anushka Bidani

Anushka Bidani is a poet, essayist, & cultural strategist from India. She’s the Editor-in-Chief & Founder at Headcanon Magazine, an international & independent publishing project with a fondness for fandoms & folklores. In the past, her work has appeared in The Telegraph, DOT.in, The Teatles Book, amongst others; & has twice been nominated for Best of the Net. She likes thinking about stories, memory, faith, bodies — & attempts to articulate herself here. She also pays occasional odes to her first fandom, One Direction, in her Headcanon Magazine column a.m.

Anushka was born in 2001 (b. New Delhi). She speaks English, Hindi, & French. She likes rainy evenings & mojitos. You can get in touch with her at bidanianushka@gmail.com.

POEMS

love letter to “studies in film: the queer eye ENG-3501-1” | Farrago Magazine, Creative Writing Anthology: Above Water (2025, in print) & Violet Indigo Blue, Etc., Monsoon 2021 (2021)
“Please Please Me” • The Beatles | Major 7th Magazine, Literary Mixtape Vol. 18 (2024)
4 poems | The Sunflower Collective (2024) — Editor’s note
silver linings / unleash | HOLYFLEA!, Pop-Up Issue: Dream Journal (2021)
little bird | Dream Noir (2019)
Samaira | Marías at Sampaguitas (2019) — Nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology
Violets | Royal Rose Magazine (2019)

FICTION

Deewani | Archive of Our Own (AO3) (2021)
he felt infinite | Nightingale & Sparrow, Issue III: heat (2019)

ESSAYS

Under the clocks | DOT.in, Issue II (2026, in print)
Watching Bigg Boss in the Time of COVID | Fanhackers x Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), Fandom Friendships Zine (2025)
Put It There | The Teatles Book, Issue IX (2021, in print)
16 December, 2012 | Teen Belle Magazine, Issue I: Catharsis (2019) — Nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology

CULTURE

Miles To Go | TBWA\India (2025)
Teen Titans: Warp-speeding through life | TBWA\India (2024)
The Hall Of Mirrors: Reflections And Ruptures In “Bajirao Mastani” | Ayaskala, Issue VII: Returning The Gaze (2024)
Quoted in Bollywood Mythmaking in Om Shanti Om | by Paridhi Puri, Opium of the Masses (2023)
From Ashoka to Shark Tank: Sparsh Agarwal’s Tasteful Journey | Ashoka University (2023)
Bean There, Drank That | Headcanon Magazine, Issue I: spill the beans (2022)
Walt Whitman – The Artist And The Legacy | Big Red Education (2022)
Remo D’Souza: The Man Who Changed the Face of Indian Dance | OpenAxis, Issue X (2021)

SPORTS

How ‘Gully Gully’ provides a personal, fan-centric recap of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup | The Telegraph (2025)
Bleeding blue(s): The paradoxical experience of being an Indian cricket fan | The Telegraph (2024)
We Are The Champions: ABA 4.0! | The Edict (2019)

BRANDS

Rangon Ka Khel 2.0 | JSW Paints (2025)
#AajMeinJiyo with Retirement Fund | Bandhan Mutual Fund (2024)
Body Ki Bhaasha Jo Chhaa Jaaye | Dixcy Scott (2024)

WEBSITES

Bingo! | Created with readymag (2025)

selected

works