ANKUR PALIWAL
JOURNALIST
Ankur Paliwal is an independent queer journalist, and founder and managing editor of queerbeat.org -- a new collaborative journalism venture focused on accurately covering LGBTQIA+ communities in India.
In his thirteen years of journalism career so far, he has primarily reported about science, inequity and LGBTQIA+ communities from India, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Germany and the United States for publications such as Nature, Scientific American, the Guardian and FiftyTwo. He has been awarded reporting grants by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Alfred Friendly Press Partners, GroundTruth Project, and Medicines Sans Frontiers, among others.
He has won multiple journalism awards including One World Media Award in 2023, AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award in 2022, South Asian Journalists Association Award in 2022, and World Health Assembly Award in 2016.
Ankur is also a consulting editor with CNN's As Equals project, editing a series on non-binary people in the global south.
He has a master’s degree in Science Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. In 2021, he was a fellow at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at The City University of New York.
Ankur lives in New Delhi with his dog, Terry. Also, he loves plants.
Selected Stories
Facebook provided spaces for Indian LGBTQIA persons, but now they're safe havens for the elite. RestofWorld
In a pristine forest, a multibillion-dollar mining giant razes trees – and homes – to dig more coal. The Guardian
Data show how privileged groups still dominate many of the country’s elite research institutes. Nature
My experience of growing up as a gay man in small-town India and coming out in New York City. Columbia Mag
A rare disease is crippling bodies, lives and livelihoods. Scientists are determined to ease the pain. FiftyTwo
How lower caste scientists face discrimination and humiliation in India's top science institutes. Undark
Sexual fluidity is a challenge to both traditional and alternative sexual narratives. Nautilus
Ghana plans to release genetically modified seeds. Will they benefit the small farmers as intended? Undark
The tragic story of a simple solution to one of the world’s most neglected diseases. Nautilus
STORIES, TIPS, PITCHES