Esther David (born 17 March 1945) is an Indian Jewish author, an artist and a sculptor. She is a recipient of the

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 ...

Early life

She was born into a

Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...

Jewish family in Ahmedabad,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. She won

in 2010 for ''The Book of Rachel''. Her father, Reuben David, was a hunter-turned-veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and Balvatika near

Kankaria Kankaria Lake is the second largest lake in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origin ...

lake in Ahmedabad. Her mother, Sarah, was a school teacher. After her schooling in Ahmedabad, She was at Maharaja Sayajirao University of

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

, as a student of Fine Arts and Art History. There she met Sankho Chaudhary, a sculptor, who taught her sculpture and Art History. After her graduation she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor in art history and art appreciation. She taught at the Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Fine Arts College,

CEPT University CEPT University, formerly the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, is an academic institution located near university area in Ahmedabad, India offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in areas of natural and de ...

and NIFT. She started writing about art and became the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

'' art critic, a national English daily. Later she became a columnist for Femina, a women's magazine, the "Times of India" and other leading national dallies. She is an advisory editor of Eve Times, Ahmedabad. She has written several books. She had edited and contributed in some books also. Her books are related to Bene Israel Jews in Ahmedabad. The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) featured ''Shalom India Housing Society'' in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010–2011 calendar, which highlights 12 Jewish women authors across the world whose "writing illuminates a particular city". The title of the calendar was ''Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them''.

Bibliography

* * ''The Walled City'' 1997 East West Books, Madras. Re-published by

Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. History SUP was formed in August 1943 when president William P. Tolley pro ...

USA. * ''By the Sabarmati'' For a review, please refer to: Weil, Shalva. 2003 The Book of Esther by Esther David, reviewed in Biblio: A Review of Books, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 26. *''The Book of Esther'' *'' Book of Rachel'' *''My Father’s Zoo'' 2007 *'' Shalom India Housing Society'' 2007 *''One Church, One All Jewish Faith, One God'' 2008 Media Creations,Inc. *''The Man with Enormous Wings'' 2010

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...

i Jewish costumes. *''City Stories'' "The Worry Box and The Laughing Lady" Scholastic India. *''Growing Up as a Woman Writer'' "Nanki Chirai" Sahitya Academy New Delhi. *''Gattu's Wildlife Adventures'' ;Editor *''Ane Dhara Dhruji''

Awards and recognition

*Writer in Residence at Villa Mont Noir, France in 1999–2000. *Writer in Residence, Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs, Saint-Nazaire, France in 2001–2002. *

2010 for ''The Book of Rachel''. *Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2011 for ''"I am the seed of the Tree…," A Jewish woman’s search of her Jewish'' ''heritage in India''. *Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2016 for ''Bene-Appetite (Research on Indian Jewish Food Traditions)''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:David, Esther 1945 births 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers Living people Bene Israel English-language writers from India Gujarati-language writers Gujarati people Indian Jews Indian women novelists Jewish women writers Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Novelists from Gujarat Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English Women writers from Gujarat Writers from Ahmedabad Jewish women artists Indian women sculptors Jewish sculptors

Early life

Bibliography

Awards and recognition

See also

References

Further reading

External links