Gurnaik Johal
Gurnaik Johal is a writer from west London. His 2022 collection We Move won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Tata Literature Live! Prize and the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize. In 2025, he was named an Observer Best New Novelist, and Saraswati, his debut novel, was nominated for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer Award, the Jhalak Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
Books by Gurnaik Johal
Saraswati
Gurnaik Johal
A masterpiece debut novel from one of the UK's most exciting young writers, for fans of David Mitchell, Deepti Kapoor and Zadie Smith
We Move
Gurnaik Johal
A debut brimful of the music and movement of multicultural London, to stand besides White Teeth, Brick Lane and The Buddha of Suburbia
Related news
Gurnaik Johal is shortlisted for the Young Writer of the Year Award
Johal is recognised for his critically-acclaimed debut novel Saraswati
Saraswati is shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize
Gurnaik Johal's globe-trotting novel is picked by booksellers as a standout 2025 debut