Deborah Baker is an American biographer and essayist. She is the author of ''A Blue Hand: The Beats in India'', a biography of

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

that focuses on his time in India and of ''In Extremis: The Life of

Laura Riding Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer. Early life and education She was born in New York Ci ...

'', a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1994. She also writes for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. Her book ''The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism'' (2011) is a biography of Maryam Jameelah (born Margaret Marcus), a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

woman from New York who converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. In 2012, she wrote a critical review for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' of ''Defender of the Realm'', the

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Reid Reid is a surname of Scotland, Scottish origin. It means "red". People with the surname * Alec Cunningham-Reid (1895–1977), British politician * Alan Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Reid (disambiguation), multiple people * Alexan ...

biography of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Family

She is married to the writer Amitav Ghosh and lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, and

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Awards

Baker was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2014. In 2016, she was awarded a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her book, ''The Last Englishmen: Love, War and the End of Empire.''

Works

*''Making a Farm: The Life of Robert Bly;'' Charlottesville, Va., 1981. *''In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding;'' New York : Grove Weidenfeld, 1992. , *''A Blue Hand: The Beats in India;'' New York : Penguin Press, 2008. , *''The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism.'' Saint Paul, Minn. : Graywolf, 2013. , *''The Last Englishmen'', Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, 2018. ,

References

External links

Official website
21st-century American women writers American biographers American essayists American women biographers American women essayists Writers from Charlottesville, Virginia Loomis Chaffee School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-bio-writer-stub