Rakesh K. Kaul

About Me

About

Rakesh K. Kaul is a Kashmiri-Indo-American novelist whose fiction is rooted in the queens, warrior heroines, and sacred geography of Kashmir, and whose commentary ranges across the region’s history, philosophy, politics, and diaspora. He is the author of The Last Queen of Kashmir (HarperCollins India) and Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir (Penguin), with the novel WaterFire Day Zero forthcoming in November 2026. His work and talks have appeared at the Jaipur Literature Festival, the India International Centre, Asia Society Mumbai, the Indian Institute of Advanced Study Shimla, and the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site. He migrated to the United States in 1972 as a gold medalist from IIT Delhi, and holds degrees from Brown University and the University of Chicago. He is also a Getty-qualified photographer, with fieldwork ranging from Kashmir to Mount Kailash.

At Mount Kailash — a Getty-qualified photographer in the field.

In parallel with his literary career, Rakesh Kumar Kaul has been a CEO, board director, private-equity operating advisor, and venture incubator. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Indo-American Arts Council and on the boards of trustees of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Ordway Music Theater, Minneapolis. He co-chaired The Arts of Kashmir exhibition at the Asia Society and partnered with the Archaeological Survey of India on the recovery of the stolen Tengapura Durga murti. He has been a founding contributor to major India-studies initiatives at UC Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and SUNY Stony Brook, and a national fundraiser for Kashmiri Pandit causes.

Chicago Booth