The Week - INIDIAN WRITERS

INDIAN WRITERS

Indian Writers in English

Born in Calcutta, in 1956, Amitav Ghosh graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and took a D.Litt. in social anthropology from Oxford. Married to an American, he teaches at Columbia University, New York. He has written three novels, The Circle of Reason which won the Prix Medici Estranger, a top French literary award; The Shadow Lines which won the Sahitya Akademi award; the recent The Calcutta Chromosome and a book of non-fiction In An Antique Land.

Born in 1951 in Allahabad, Allan Sealy had his schooling in Lucknow and graduated from Delhi University. He later studied and worked in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. He is married to a New Zealander and has an adopted daughter. His first novel The Trotter Nama created a sensation. He has published one more novel, Hero and a travel book, From Yukan to Yucatan.

Born in Bombay in 1952, Rohinton Mistry emigrated to Canada in 1975 to become a pop singer. He became a famous writer, instead. For 10 years he worked in a bank, while studying English and philosophy at the University of Toronto. The first short-story he wrote won the Hart House prize for fiction in 1983. His first novel, Such a Long Journey, was short-listed for the Booker Prize, and won several Canadian prizes. His recent novel A Fine Balance is based on the Emergency.

With the stunning commercial and critical successes of The Golden Gate and A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth is the best-known of the new Indo-English writers. He has also published five collections of poems, a travel book, From Heaven’s Lake, and translations of Chinese poetry. Born in 1952 in Calcutta, he studied in Calcutta, Delhi, Oxford, Stanford and Nanking. He is unmarried, and divides his time between Delhi and Britain.

Born in 1956, Upamanyu Chatterjee graduated from St Stephen’s, and joined the IAS. Married, with two children, he is chief officer, Bombay Slum Improvement Board. His debut novel, English August: An Indian Story attracted instant notice, and has been made into an award winning film. He has published another novel The Last Burden.

Githa Hariharan grew up in Bombay and Manila. She continued her studies in the US and worked with public television there. Returning to India in 1979, she has worked in Bombay, Madras and New Delhi, initially as an editor in a publishing house, and later as a free lance. She is married with two sons, and lives in New Delhi. Her The Thousand Faces of Night won the Commonwealth Prize for the best first novel. Other writings include The Ghosts of Vasu Master and The Art of Dying, a collection of short-stories.

Born in 1962 in Calcutta, Amit Chaudhuri grew up in Bombay. He graduated from Imperial College, London, and went on to Balliol, Oxford. His A Strange and Sublime Address won the Betty Trask Award and the Commonwealth Award for the best first novel. He has published another novel, Afternoon Raga. An accomplished vocalist as well, he divides his time between Britain and Bombay.

Model, copywriter and the first editor of Stardust and Society, Shobha De has published seven novels--Socialite Evenings, Starry Nights, Sisters, Strange Obsessions, Sultry Days, Snapshots and Second Thoughts--and a collection of short-stories, Small Betrayals. All of them have been tremendous commercial successes. She is married, with six children, and lives in Bombay.

Like Shobha De, Namita Gokhale began as a film journalist in Bombay, editing Super in the late seventies. Her first novel Paro: Dreams of Passion created a small stir by its ‘frankness’. Based in New Delhi, she has recently published another novel Gods, Graves and Grandmothers.

Born in Calcutta, Bharati Mukherjee studied in Calcutta and in the US, obtaining her Ph.D. in English Literature from Iowa University. She has taught English and creative writing in Canada, at Columbia University, and is teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. Her novels include The Tiger’s Daughter, Jasmine and Wife.

Born in 1949, married, based in Bombay, Kiran Nagarkar works in an advertising agency. His first novel--in Marathi--Saat Sakkam Trechalis (or Seven Sixes are Forty Three) is a landmark in Marathi literature. His first English novel, Ravan and Eddie, appeared last year.

Born in Calcutta in 1956, Shashi Tharoor studied in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi. Graduating from St Stephen’s, where he excelled at virtually everything, he joined the UN High Commission for Refugees in 1978 and is now at the UN headquarters in New York. He is married, with twin sons. His first novel The Great Indian Novel won the Commonwealth Award. He has since published Show Business and The Five Dollar Smile, a collection of short-stories.

Born in Calcutta in 1965, Sunetra Gupta has spent most of her life abroad, growing up in Ethiopia, Ghana and Liberia, graduating in biology from Princeton University in the US, and finally settling in London in 1987. She is doing research on infectious diseases. Her novels include The Glassblower’s Breath and Memories of Rain.

Based in Bangalore, Shashi Deshpande has written several novels, the best known being The Long Silence which won the Sahitya Akademi award.

Ashok Banker, born in Bombay in 1964, began writing novels while at school. Married, with two children, he was initially a copywriter, but gave up his job to become a full-time writer. He has published three thrillers, and the novels Vertigo and Byculla Boy.

Born in 1957 in Delhi, Mukul Kesavan studied at Delhi University and Cambridge. He is married, with two children, and lives in Delhi, teaching History at Jamia Millia University. His novel Looking Through Glass is much admired.

Poet and novelist Meena Alexander hails from Hyderabad. She is a professor of English and creative writing in a New York college. Her books include the acclaimed novel Nampally Road and a memoir, Fault Lines.

Shama Futehally is also from Bombay and now lives in Delhi. She is married to an IAS officer, and has two children. Her first novel Tara Lane is much admired.

Perhaps the best known broadcaster in India, Partap Sharma has lent his voice to innumerable documentaries and advertisements for over two decades. Based in Bombay, he has published numerous short-stories, one novel, Days of the Turban, and a children’s book, The Surangini Tales.

Born in Lucknow, educated in Lucknow, Delhi and Cambridge, Rukun Advani, author of Beethoven Among the Cows is a senior editor at Oxford University Press in Delhi.

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