His short story "Scenes from the Life of the Only Girl in Water Shield, Alaska" received an O. Henry Award in 2008.

He has bachelor's and master's degrees in symbolic systems from Stanford University and formerly worked as a writer and researcher in San Francisco on user experience topics.

[1] Though it struggled to find a publisher, Private Citizens, which follows four Stanford alumni after their graduation, was eventually acquired by William Morrow and Company/HarperCollins, which paid Tulathimutte an advance of $20,000 and released it in 2016.

[1] Giles Harvey of The New York Times Magazine said it satirized "current liberal piety" and "corporatized identity politics".

[1] As of 2024[update], Tulathimutte is the lead instructor at CRIT, a creative writing workshop based in Brooklyn, New York.