Akhila Ramnarayan

Bio

Literary scholar, theatre actor, and indie musician, Akhila Ramnarayan has served as professor of literature and academic administrator at universities in India and the United States. The 2013-14 recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for theatre acting, Akhila has performed and toured nationally and internationally since 2007 with JustUs Repertory, a Chennai-based theatre group founded by playwright-director Dr Gowri Ramnarayan, her mother and first Carnatic vocal teacher.

Since 2019, she has begun living her teenage dream, writing and recording original songs with longtime friend and multi-instrumentalist Doug Carraway, with two full-length records and 2 EPs to date. The two formed the indie rock duo Starcracker in 2024 and recently launched a podcast on creative process. To mix things up, Akhila is also currently working on a book of old-fashioned essays.