Indra Sinha (born 1950 in

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbh ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Maharashtra, India) is a British writer of Indian and English descent. '' Animal's People'', his most recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2007

Man 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. ...

and winner of the 2008

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

for Europe and South Asia. In July 2015, Sinha was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achi ...

for "his major contribution to literature and demonstrating the power of words in changing people’s lives".

Biography

Sinha is the son of an officer in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

and an English writer. He was educated at

Mayo College Mayo College (informally Mayo) is a boys-only independent boarding school in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. It was founded in 1875 by Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, who was the Viceroy of India from 1869 to 1872. This makes it one of the oldest pu ...

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...

, Rajasthan in India; Oakham School, Rutland, England and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

in England, where he studied

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. His wife and he live in the Lot valley in south-west France. They have three grown-up children. Formerly a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

for

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based advertising agency, agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging wit ...

, London, and, from 1984, Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners, Sinha has the distinction of having been voted one of the top ten British copywriters of all time. He became known for hard-hitting, campaigning advertising for charities such as

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

and the Bhopal Medical Appeal, but became increasingly disenchanted with commercial advertising. In 1995, Sinha resigned from the agency to concentrate on writing.

Books

'' Animal's People'', set in the fictional Indian city of Khaufpur, was a reworking of the

Bhopal disaster The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's ...

based on Sinha's long association working with the Bhopal survivors. His earlier works include

translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

s of ancient

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

texts into English, a non-fiction memoir of the pre- internet generation ''(The Cybergypsies),'' and a novel, ''The Death of Mr. Love'', based on the case of

K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra ''Commander K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra'' was a 1959 Indian court case where Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, a Naval Commander, was tried for the murder of Prem Ahuja, his wife's lover. Commander Nanavati, accused under section 302, was ...

. KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra

Bibliography

* 1980. ''The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra: With extracts from Koka Shastra,

Ananga Ranga The ''Ananga Ranga'' ( hi, अनंगरंग, lit=Stage of Love) or ''Kamaledhiplava'' ( hi, link=no, कमलेधिप्लव, lit=Boat in the Sea of Love) is an Indian sex manual written by Kalyana malla in the 15th or 16th century. Th ...

and other famous Indian works on love.'' Translations from

and commentary. London: Hamlyn. Hardcover first edition: . First North American edition 1997, New York: Marlowe & Co. Paperback: . * 1993. ''Tantra: The Search for Ecstasy'' (also known with the subtitle "The Cult of Ecstasy"). London: Hamlyn. . * 1993. ''The Great Book of Tantra: Translations and Images from the Classic Indian Text.'' Rochester: Inner Traditions - Bear & Company. . London: Hamlyn paperback edition: . * 1999. ''The Cybergypsies: a True Tale of Lust, War, and Betrayal on the Electronic Frontier.'' New York:

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

, hardcover first edition. . New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

paperback edition: . * 2002. ''The Death of Mr Love.'' New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster). . (See also:

.) * 2007. '' Animal's People.'' New York: Simon & Schuster. . (See also:

Bhopal

Sinha has been a passionate campaigner for justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster since 1993, when he created the first advertisement for the Bhopal Medical Appeal (using the now-famous photograph by

Raghu Rai Raghu Rai (born 1942), is an Indian photographer and photojournalist. He was a protégé of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who appointed Rai, then a young photojournalist, to Magnum Photos in 1977. Rai became a photographer in 1965, and a year later ...

of a dead child being buried) that raised money to build a clinic to provide free treatment for the survivors. He is an outspoken critic of

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

, the multinational owner of

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

, whose neglected, dilapidated and undermanned chemical plant in the city of

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

leaked 27 tonnes of poisonous gas on the night of 3 December 1984, killing up to 8,000 people and injuring upwards of half a million. Around 22,000 people have died as a result of injuries sustained on "that night", and more than 100,000 remain chronically ill; the abandoned, derelict factory continues to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater, poisoning wells. Apart from his novel, ''Animal's People'' (a fictionalised account of the aftermath of the disaster), Sinha has given many interviews and written several articles on the subject, including one in ''The Guardian'' marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster, in which he roundly condemns local politicians (particularly

Babulal Gaur Babulal Gaur Yadav (2 June 1929 – 21 August 2019) was an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He was elected ten times to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, twice f ...

of the BJP) for their failure to comply with a 2004

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling ordering them to supply clean water to the poison victims. Nor does he absolve the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

of blame. As a former advertising copywriter, Sinha is particularly scathing about Dow Chemical Company's attempts to improve its image through its sponsorship of events such as the Blue Planet Run and

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the be ...

Run For Water. He has called Dow's "Human Element" advertising campaign "glossy falsehoods", and quotes artist Paul Phare (who created a set of e-cards in response to Dow) "Telling a lie beautifully does not make it true".

References

External links

Interview
on

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

(2 December 2009) to mark 25th anniversary of Bhopal disaster {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Indra 1950 births Living people Writers from Mumbai 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge British writers of Indian descent Indian copywriters English-language writers from India Indian male novelists Indian people of English descent 20th-century Indian translators Mayo College alumni 20th-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian male writers