After graduating from Oxford University, Tanika Gupta worked as a community worker and in an Asian womens refuge for several years. She began writing drama in the early 1990s. Tanika has written extensively for theatre, radio, film and television. Her play, The Waiting Room (National Theatre), won the John Whiting Award in 2000. Titles published by Oberon Books include Inside Out (Clean Break), Hobsons Choice (Young Vic and Manchester Royal Exchange), Catch (Royal Court), Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), White Boy (National Youth Theatre/Soho Theatre), The Empress (RSC), Mindwalking (Bandbazi), Lions and Tigers (Shakespeares Globe), Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland), among others. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement (2004), was the recipient of the Amnesty International Media Award (2005) for her radio play, Chitra and won the BBC Audio Drama Award 2013 for best adaptation for her version of A Dolls House. Tanika was awarded an MBE in 2008 and received the James Tait Black Award for Lions and Tigers in 2018. She is a visiting lecturer at Central School for Speech and Drama where she is an Honorary Fellow.
