Aditi Natasha Kini (they/she) writes essays, screenplays, and other text objects, from Queens, NY and San Diego, CA. They also produce film. A finalist and alternate for the 2020-22 Jerome Award for Literature, Aditi is a third-year MFA candidate at UCSD’s cross-genre writing program.
Aditi is at work on two books, simultaneously. The Killing of a Tiger is a hybrid nonfiction project on, well, the killing of a tiger, and hot takes & thirst traps is a satire of NYC leftism. “Oriental Cyborg,” a manuscript on tech, labor, race and automata, recently won Essay Press’s 2021 Chapbook Prize and is forthcoming Spring 2023.
Problematic, a tv pilot co-created with comedian Pranav Behari and producer-actor Devyn Fusaro, received recognition from Sundance Episodic Lab, Austin Film Festival, and other festivals. In summer 2022, the creators EPed, wrote, and produced a short series of six episodes for BRIC TV. It is now in post-production.
Aditi produced Nemo Allen’s award-winning El Bastón, a documentary on the environment, indigenous struggle in Colombia, and family legacy. El Bastón had its World Premiere at DOCNYC in Nov. 2022, and will soon have its Texas Premiere at South by South West. Aditi and Nemo are developing their second collaboration, “Filthy Animals,” a docu-series on human-non-human friendships around the world.
Aditi’s cultural criticism and essays have appeared in The New York Times, LitHub, The Rumpus, Denver Quarterly and other publications. She has appeared on radio and television including WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, BBC World Service, CBC, SiriusXM, and more to talk about topics including incels and South Asian representation in media. In 2019, she co-hosted and curated ‘After Party,’ a variety show at The Footlight, and has emceed, read, and hosted events all around New York.
In addition to her freelance writing, she has consulted on scripted and unscripted projects for platforms including Disney and PBS, and has worked in higher education, tech, and true crime television as a media producer. In 2020, she created and taught a pandemic workshop “STAY AT HOME AND WRITE ONE SINGLE ESSAY.” She currently teaches writing about climate change and creative nonfiction at UC San Diego.
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