Karnad is best known for his book Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War, which won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar and the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for Non-Fiction.

[10] In addition to print journalism, he has hosted podcasts like Friend of the Court, which examines India's landmark constitutional cases.

He has written, produced, and presented video essays for TheWire, and a short documentary film titled Encounter: A Killer Cop Speaks.

[13] Karnad consulted on the critically acclaimed Netflix documentary series Bad Boy Billionaires, which was partly based on his 2012 investigative essay in The Caravan.

Historian Simon Schama, writing for The Financial Times, called it “nothing short of brilliant.”[20] Karnad has received multiple awards for his journalism and literary work, including: