[4] Her non-fiction debut, a collection of essays, Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2010.
[7] Her maternal grandfather is Padma Shri laureate Urdu writer and scholar Syed Ali Jawad Zaidi.
[8][9] She has written for several publications including Caravan, Open, The Hindu, Elle, Forbes India, Femina, Marie Claire, Tehelka and the Deccan Herald.
[10] Annie Zaidi's first collection of essays, Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2010.
Noted journalist and author P. Sainath said of the book: "The stories on dalits in the Punjab easily rank amongst the best done on the subject" and "Above all, it is the quality of the story-telling that grips you.
[11] A collection of short stories, The Bad Boy's Guide to the Good Indian Girl, was co-authored along with Smriti Ravindra and published by Zubaan Books in 2011.
More of her work has appeared in literary journals such as The Little Magazine, Desilit, Pratilipi, The Raleigh Review, Mint Lounge, Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi) and Asian Cha.
[3][16] Ashish Ghadiali of The Guardian writes the essay is a "haunting evocation of belonging and dislocation in contemporary India" that has delivered her "on to an international platform for the first time in her decade-long career.
[2] Her play Jaal[19][20] opened at Prithvi Theatre in January 2012 as part of Writers Bloc:3,[21] a drama festival in Mumbai.