Rakesh Satyal is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, best known for his

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

-winning

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

''Blue Boy''."Gaga at the Gala: Rakesh Satyal Wins Lambda Literary Award, Sings About It"
. brooklyntheborough.com, June 2010. ''Blue Boy'' won the 2009 Prose/Poetry Award from the Association of Asian American Studies and was a finalist for the Publishing Triangle's Edmund White Debut Fiction Award and Satyal was a recipient of a 2010 Fellowship in Fiction from the

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

Early life

Rakesh Satyal was born and raised in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. His parents, Vinay and Lalita Satyal, emigrated to the United States from India. He has a

fraternal twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

brother, Vikas. His older brother is stand-up comedian Rajiv Satyal. Satyal attended Fairfield Senior High School. Satyal graduated with an A.B. in comparative literature from Princeton University in 2002 after completing a 272-page-long senior thesis, titled "Dissonance (A Novel)," under the supervision of Lynn Tillman and

David Ebershoff David Ebershoff (born January 17, 1969) is an American writer, editor, and teacher. His debut novel, '' The Danish Girl'', was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film of the same name in 2015, while his third novel, '' The 19th Wife'', was ...

. He was a member of the a cappella group the Princeton Nassoons.Princeton Nassoons His freshman year, he created the celebration that occurs each semester on Dean's Date, where students cheer on their classmates to turn in their written work on time.

Career

With the exception of a few years in the world of branding, Satyal has worked in book publishing since 2001, when he was an intern at

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. He worked at what was formerly known as the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, then

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, then

Atria Books Atria may refer to: Science *Atrium (heart) (plural: atria), an anatomical structure of the heart *Atria (genus), a flatworm genus in the family Dendrocoelidae * Atria (star) or Alpha Trianguli Australis, a star in the constellation Triangulum Aus ...

, a division of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. He is currently an Executive Editor at HarperOne, a division of

. Over the course of his career, he has worked with such authors as

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, Daniel Lavery,

Janet Mock Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983) is an American writer, television producer, and transgender rights activist. Her debut book, the memoir '' Redefining Realness'', became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. She is a contributing editor for ''Marie ...

Terry Castle Terry Castle (born October 18, 1953) is an American literary scholar. Once described by Susan Sontag as "the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today," she has published eight books, including the anthology ''The Literat ...

Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho de Souza ( , ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His 1988 novel '' The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller. Early life Paulo Coelho ...

Joey Graceffa Joseph Michael Graceffa Jr. (; born May 16, 1991) is an American YouTuber, vlogger, actor, author, and producer. He runs four active YouTube channels, all named after him. His main channel is dedicated to vlogging, while the second features video ...

Vestal McIntyre Vestal McIntyre is an American author currently based in the UK. He was born in Nampa, Idaho, and educated at Tufts University, Massachusetts. His first collection of short stories, ''You Are Not the One'', was published by the independent Scotti ...

Armistead Maupin Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1944) is an American writer notable for '' Tales of the City'', a series of novels set in San Francisco. Early life Maupin was born in Washington, D.C., to Diana Jane (Barton) and Armistead Jones Maup ...

, Michael Arceneaux,

Chasten Buttigieg Chasten James Glezman Buttigieg ( ; ; born June 23, 1989) is an American teacher, author, and LGBTQ movements, LGBTQ activist. He is married to Pete Buttigieg, the former United States Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Secretary of Transportati ...

, Anuradha Roy, Rahul Mehta,

Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and popular music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also written for other publicat ...

, and

Paul Rudnick Paul Rudnick (born December 29, 1957) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. His plays have been produced on and off Broadway theatre, Broadway. He wrote the screenplays for ''Sister Act'', ''Addams Family Values'', Jef ...

. '' Blue Boy'' was published in 2009. Satyal's second novel, ''No One Can Pronounce My Name'', was published in May 2017 by

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bull ...

USA. His work has also appeared in the anthologies ''The Man I Might Become'', ''Fresh Men 2'', ''The Letter Q'', and ''Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey''. Satyal sometimes performs in New York City as a singer. His cabaret act has been mentioned in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', the ''

New York Observer New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

'', and ''

Page Six The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost.com; PageSix.com, a gossip site; and Decider.com, an entertain ...

''. He also garnered attention for his acceptance speech at the Lambda Literary Awards gala, which he sang to the tune of

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

's "

Bad Romance "Bad Romance" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), ''The Fame Monster'' (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, ''The Fame'' (2008). Following an unauthorized demo leak, Gaga premiered the ...

". His novel 'Blue Boy' is being turned into a film by the actor, comedian, and writer

Nik Dodani Nik Dodani (born December 19, 1993) is an American actor, writer, and comedian known for his roles as Zahid in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Atypical'', and Pat Patel in the revival of the popular CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown''. Career Acti ...

. His novel ''No One Can Pronounce My Name'' is being made into a film by

Christine Vachon Christine Vachon (; born November 21, 1962) is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector. Vachon produced Todd Haynes' first feature, ''Poison'' (1991), which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film ...

Killer Films Killer Films is a New York City-based independent film production company founded in 1995 by film producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. The company has produced many acclaimed independent films over the past two decades including ''Fa ...

Personal life

Satyal lives in New York City with his husband, John Maas, a literary agent. His brother is comedian Rajiv Satyal. He has a fraternal twin, Vikas Satyal.

Bibliography

* ''Blue Boy'' (2009) * '' No One Can Pronounce My Name (novel)'' (2017)

References

External links