Sajid Rashid is a noted writer and journalist and editor of the quarterly Urdu magazine Nayaa Waraq. A liberal Muslim intellectual and activist, he writes columns for the Mumbai-based Hindi evening newspaper Mahanagar and also for the Pakistani publication Akhbaar-e Jahaan. He grew up in Mumbai, which is the locale of his stories in the collection Ek Chhotaa sa Jahannum (A Small Hell), one of which is about his schoolmate Dawood Ibrahim, the don of the underworld. His Hindi novel Sooney ke Daant (Gold Teeth), for which he received an award from the Prime Minister of India, is based on the life of a prominent beef trader.