Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a medical officer with the government of Jharkhand. He is also an author of the critically acclaimed novel The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories, The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey which was shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2014 and the Crossword Book Award 2014. Sowvendra received the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in June 2015.