Anita Desai, born Anita Mazumdar (born 24 June 1937) is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. As a writer she has been shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

three times. She received a

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1978 for her novel ''Fire on the Mountain'', from the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

, India's National Academy of Letters. She won the British

Guardian Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the autho ...

for '' The Village by the Sea''."Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners"
guardian.co.uk, 12 March 2001; retrieved 5 August 2012. The Peacock, Voices in the City, Fire on the Mountain and an anthology of short stories, Games at Twilight. She is on the advisory board of the Lalit Kala Akademi and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London.

Early life

Desai was born in 1937 in

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

, India, to a German immigrant mother, Toni Nime, and a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

businessman, D. N. Mazumdar. Her Bengali father first met her German mother while he was an engineering student in pre-war Berlin; and they got married during a period when it was still unusual for an Indian man to marry a European woman. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to New Delhi, where Desai was raised with her two elder sisters and brother. She grew up speaking Hindi with her neighbours, and only German at her home. She also spoke Bengali, Urdu and English out of her house. She first learned to read and write in English at school and as a result, English became her "literary language". She began to write in English at the age of seven and published her first story at the age of nine. She was a student at Queen Mary's Higher Secondary School in Delhi and received her B.A. in English literature in 1957 from the Miranda House of the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE ...

. The following year she married Ashvin Desai, the director of a computer software company and author of the book ''Between Eternities: Ideas on Life and The Cosmos''. They have four children, including

-winning novelist

Kiran Desai Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...

. Her children were taken to Thul (near

Alibag Alibag, also known as Alibaug (Pronunciation: �libaːɡ, is a coastal town and a municipal council in Raigad District of Maharashtra, India. It is the headquarters of the Raigad district and is south of the city of Mumbai. Alibag is part of t ...

h) for weekends, where Desai set her novel '' The Village by the Sea''. For that work she won the 1983 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.

Career

Desai published her first novel, ''Cry The Peacock'', in 1963. In 1958 she collaborated with P. Lal and founded the publishing firm

Writers Workshop Writers Workshop is a Kolkata-based literary publisher founded by the Indian poet and scholar Purushottama Lal in 1958. It has published many new Indian authors of post-independence urban literature. Many of these authors later became widely k ...

. She considers ''

Clear Light of Day ''Clear Light of Day'' is a novel published in 1980 by Indian novelist and three-time Booker Prize finalist Anita Desai. Set primarily in Old Delhi, the story describes the tensions in a post-partition Indian family, starting with the character ...

'' (1980) her most autobiographical work as it is set during her coming of age and also in the same neighborhood in which she grew up. In 1984, she published '' In Custody'' – about an

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

. In 1993, she became a creative writing teacher at

. The 1999 Booker Prize finalist novel '' Fasting, Feasting'' increased her popularity. Her novel ''

The Zigzag Way ''The Zigzag Way'' is a 2004 novel by Anita Desai. The novel is about an American academic and writer who goes with his girlfriend to Mexico and rediscovers his passion for fiction writing. Summary Eric is a postgraduate student. He and his gir ...

'', set in 20th-century Mexico, appeared in 2004 and her latest collection of short stories, ''

The Artist of Disappearance ''The Artist of Disappearance'' is a collection of novellas by Indian writer Anita Desai. It was published in the UK by Chatto & Windus in 2011, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2012. The book includes three novellas: ...

'', was published in 2011. Desai has taught at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

, Baruch College, and

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's coll ...

. She is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

, and of

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

(to which she dedicated ''Baumgartner's Bombay'').

Film

In 1993, her novel ''In Custody'' was adapted by Merchant Ivory Productions into an English film by the same name, directed by Ismail Merchant, with a screenplay by

Shahrukh Husain Shahrukh Husain ( ur, شاہ رخ حسین), born 28 April 1950, is a Pakistani author who specializes in fiction, non-fiction, and screenwriting. She is also a psychotherapist, folklorist, and storyteller. She resides in London. She is a Fellow of ...

. It won the 1994 President of India Gold Medal for Best Picture and stars

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...

, Shabana Azmi and

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English,Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

Awards

* 1978 –

Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes o ...

– Fire on the Mountain * 1978 –

(National Academy of Letters Award) – ''Fire on the Mountain'' * 1980 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – ''

'' * 1983 – Guardian Children's Fiction Prize – '' The Village by the Sea: an Indian family story'' * 1984 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction – '' In Custody'' * 1993 – Neil Gunn Prize * 1999 – Shortlisted, Booker Prize for Fiction: '' Fasting, Feasting'' * 2000 – Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature (Italy) * 2003 – Benson Medal of

* 2007 –

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is a literary honour in India bestowed by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.Quote: "In his acceptance speech when India's National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi) in 1997 conferred its h ...

* 2014 –

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

Selected works

* ''Cry, The Peacock'' (1963) Orient Paperbacks * ''Voices in the City'' (1965), Orient Paperbacks * ''Bye-bye Blackbird'' (1971), Orient Paperbacks * ''The Peacock Garden'' (1974), Mammoth Books * ''Where Shall We Go This Summer?'' (1975), Orient Paperbacks * ''Cat on a Houseboat'' (1976),

Orient Longman Orient Blackswan Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Orient Longman India, commonly referred to as Orient Longman), is an Indian publishing house headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana. The company publishes academic, professional and general works as well as s ...

* ''Fire on the Mountain'' (1977), Random House India * ''Games at Twilight'' (1978),

Vintage Publishing Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hou ...

* ''

'' (1980), Random House India * '' The Village by the Sea'' (1982),

Penguin India Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

* '' In Custody'' (1984) * ''Baumgartner's Bombay'' (1988) * '' Journey to Ithaca'' (1995), Random House India * ''Scholar and Gipsey'' (1996), Weidenfeld & Nicolson * '' Fasting, Feasting'' (1999), Random House India * ''Diamond Dust and Other Stories'' (2000),

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

* ''

'' (2004), Random House India * ''The Artist of Disappearance'' (2011), Mariner Books

References

Sources

* Abrams, M. H. and Stephen Greenblatt. "Anita Desai". ''The Norton Anthology of English Literature,'' Vol. 2C, 7th Edition. New York:

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

, 2000: 2768 – 2785. * Alter, Stephen and Wimal Dissanayake. "A Devoted Son by Anita Desai". ''The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Short Stories.'' New Delhi, Middlesex, New York: Penguin Books, 1991: 92–101. * Gupta, Indra. ''India's 50 Most Illustrious Women''. () * Selvadurai, Shyam (ed.). "Anita Desai:Winterscape". ''Story-Wallah: A Celebration of South Asian Fiction.'' New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005:69–90. *Nawale, Arvind M. (ed.). "Anita Desai's Fiction: Themes and Techniques". New Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 2011.

External links

*
Anita Desai discusses ''Fasting, Feasting''
on the BBC ''

World Book Club ''World Book Club'' is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her ...

''
Voices from the Gaps

SAWNET bio

Revisiting Anita Desai's "In Custody" for the Agrégation-Relire "Un héritage exorbitant" d'A. Desai
* ;Interviews

* ;Papers

at the

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the p ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Books written by Anita Desai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Anita 1937 births Living people Bengali Hindus 21st-century American women writers MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty Mount Holyoke College faculty Indian emigrants to the United States Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Delhi University alumni American novelists of Indian descent American women novelists American women writers of Indian descent Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English English-language writers from India Indian people of German descent Smith College faculty 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education 20th-century American women writers Novelists from Uttarakhand People from Mussoorie 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian novelists Women writers from Uttarakhand 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian women screenwriters Screenwriters from Uttarakhand PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Novelists from Massachusetts American women academics