Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Suchandrika Chakrabarti [pronunciation.https://namedrop.io/suchandrikachakrabarti] (born 1983) is a British writer and broadcaster. She is known for her work in stand-up comedy, podcasting, and writing for television and radio. Her work explores modern digital life, social media, and personal experiences with themes such as grief, memory, and identity. As a journalist, she has covered politics, celebrity and news for UK national newspapers and websites. As a comedian and comedy writer, Chakrabarti has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and writes for Have I Got News For You on BBC One and for Radio 4. As a podcaster, she made the hit podcast Black Mirror Cracked, which reached Number 2 on iTunes and remained in the 'Bingeworthy' category for four months, hitting 20,000 listens in its first week
==Early Life==
Chakrabarti was born in London to Bengali Hindu parents from Kolkata, India. She was educated at Forest School in London, and at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read English. Chakrabarti's mother died when she was 16, ad her father when she was 19, leaving her orphaned. Chakrabarti has one brother.
==Career==
===Journalism===
Chakrabarti has worked as a journalist and media trainer for The Guardian, Associated Press, and the Daily Mirror. She often worked on the politics desk at the Mirror, covering the Junior Doctors' Strike in January 2016, the fallout from the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's election as US President. As a freelancer, she has contributed to various publications including The Times, Prospect Magazine and New Statesman.
Her work spans a range of topics, from news reporting to celebrity interviews with public figures such as actor Natalie Dormer, writer and showrunner Charlie Brooker and radio presenter Lauren Laverne.
Chakrabarti's interview with Dormer for New Statesman included Dormer's reflections on onscreen nudity:The article also contained the first public mention of the end of Dormer's relationship with director Anthony Byrne.
Chakrabarti interviewed Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker a number of times for New Statesman, the Daily Mirror and on the Black Mirror Cracked and Freelance Pod podcasts, both of which Chakrabarti hosted and Brooker appeared on as a guest. In a New Statesman interview with Chakrabarti, Brooker revealed how his young children responded to having an Alexa at home: "Brooker's not saying if he's got a smartspeaker-themed episode in the next season of Black Mirror, but he does expand on how having an Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, has affected his kids (sons Covey, six and Huxley, four): 'They immediately took to this thing like a duck to water... because they're cleverer than me'".
Several of Chakrabarti's interviews and articles have been quoted or referenced in multiple existing Wikipedia entries, reflecting the broader influence of her work in public knowledge. She is also a judge for the British Journalism Awards.
===Comedy===
Chakrabarti was a semi-finalist in the Funny Women Stage Award 2020, after which she was named a "One to Watch" by the organization. In the same year, she was a finalist in the British Comedy Guide Pro Performance Awards. She debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 with her comedy show I Miss Amy Winehouse, which originally started out a a novel. According to a review in Binge Fringe Magazine, the show was noted for its storytelling elements blended with stand-up comedy.
In 2024, she performed her second comedy show, Doomscrolling, at the Edinburgh Fringe, exploring the impact of social media and news consumption on mental health, and how she explains the world to her five-year-old niece. The show is transferring to London as part of Pleasance Islington's Best of Edinburgh 2024 season.
Chakrabarti began writing for Radio 4 in September 2020, contributing to The News Quiz and The Now Show. Since March 2023, Chakrabarti has written for the BBC One topical comedy show Have I Got News For You.
===Radio and Podcasts===
While working at the Daily Mirror, Chakrabarti launched her first podcast, Black Mirror Cracked, which went live on 29 December 2017, the same day as the fourth season of the Netflix series. The podcast reached Number 2 on iTunes and remained in the 'Bingeworthy' category for four months, garnering 20,000 listens in its first week.
Chakrabarti hosted Black Mirror Cracked from its launch in November 2017, until she left the Daily Mirror in April 2018. She interviewed a number of well-known figures on the podcast, including: actor Douglas Hodge on his role in the episode Black Museum; actor Wyatt Russell on his role in Playtest; and actor Milanka Brooks on her role in USS Callister.
Chakrabarti launched Freelance Pod in 2018, interviewing guests about freelancing, digital media, and creative careers. The podcast ran until 2021. Guests included Charlie Brooker, video games curator Marie Foulston and former BBC journalist Sue Llewellyn. Chakrabarti then brought a live recording of the show to the London Podcast Festival 2019, interviewing Syrian refugee, writer, and academic Abdul Tahhan.
Chakrabarti co-hosted the comedy discussion podcast But Is It Funny? in 2021-2022, alongside The Guardian's comedy critic Brian Logan and Amsterdam-based improviser Jamal Khadar.
In 2022, she launched the limited-series podcast We Miss Amy Winehouse. In a review for The Observer, Miranda Sawyer described the podcast as featuring "an engaging audio presence" from Chakrabarti, noting her emotional reactions, though finding the analysis "a little woolly." Sawyer praised the inclusion of full music tracks, calling it "an utter joy.".
Chakrabarti is a regular panellist on the award-winning podcast The Week Unwrapped with Olly Mann, and has appeared on a number of other podcasts, including Paper Cuts, Drunk Women Solving Crime, and The Prospect (magazine)|Prospect Podcast.
She has made numerous appearances as a guest on BBC Radio, and co-hosted Podcast Radio Hour on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
===Writing===
Chakrabarti writes across fiction and creative non-fiction across various formats. She contributed the chapter 'Cover Versions, Cover Stories' to the 2022 re-issue of the anthology The Colour of Madness, edited by Dr Samara Linton and Dr Rianna Walcott. The book is a collection of stories on race and mental health in the UK.
Chakrabarti's short story 'Those Paper Boats' was published by Dirt newsletter for their June 2024 Fiction Week.
Chakrabarti's poem 'happy birthday' was shortlisted for the Happiful Poetry Prize 2024. She has been chosen for the Southbank New Poets Collective 24/25, led by poets Vanessa Kisuule and Will Harris.
Chakrabarti's script Hologram Dad was a Quarterfinalist in the Female Script Club Call Out 2024.
Category:British writers
Category:British people
Category:Broadcasters
Category:People from London