Anuja Varghese is a Canadian writer from Hamilton, Ontario,Justin Chandler, "On the scene: Hamilton authors talk queerness and resistance". TVO Today, June 16, 2023. whose debut short story collection Chrysalis was published in 2023.H. Felix Chau Bradley, "In this debut story collection from Anuja Varghese, horror and shame commingle with joy and transformation". Xtra!, March 14, 2023.
Varghese's writing has been published in literary magazines such as The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead and Plenitude, and has been anthologized in Devouring Tomorrow, When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead and Queer Little Nightmares."Anuja Varghese on Transformation, Literary Anxieties, and Writing for 'Women Who Don't See Themselves in Most Stories'". Open Book, February 22, 2023. Her short story "Throwing Salt" was a Pushcart Prize nominee in 2021.
Chrysalis won the 2023 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT literature,Nicole Thompson, "Kai Thomas wins Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for debut novel". Toronto Star, November 21, 2023. the 31st annual Hamilton Literary Award for Fiction, and the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2023 Governor General's Awards."Anuja Varghese wins Governor General's literary award for fiction". Toronto Star, November 8, 2023. Chrysalis was longlisted for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and shortlisted for the 2024 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize.
Her debut novel, A Kiss of Crimson Ash, was acquired by Penguin Random House Canada for publication in May 25, 2026.
Personal life Varghese is bisexual. She has a BA from McGill University, and a Creative Writing Certificate from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies where she has also been an instructor. She was a recipient of the Toronto Metropolitan University's 2025 Isadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award after completing a course in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Management.
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