Timeri Murari is an Indian

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 ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is the author of fourteen published novels, including best-sellers ''The Taliban Cricket Club'' (2012) and ''Taj'' (1985, republished 2007), and has written extensively for Indian and international newspapers including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. He has also written the screenplay of the award-winning Hindi movie ''

Daayraa ''Daayraa'' (translation: ''The Square Circle''; sometimes spelled as ''Daayra'') is a 1996 Bollywood film, directed by Amol Palekar, starring Nirmal Pandey and Sonali Kulkarni. The screenplay was by award-winning journalist and novelist, Timer ...

'' (1997), which was voted one of the ten best films of 1997 by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine. Palekar, Amol
Quality Gets Topmost Billing: Palekar
''Indian Express'', 10 September 1998. He adapted and directed it as a stage play, ''The Square Circle'', at the

Leicester Haymarket Theatre The Leicester Haymarket Theatre is a theatre in Leicester, England, next to the Haymarket Shopping Centre on Belgrave Gate in Leicester City centre. History The Haymarket Theatre was opened by Sir Ralph Richardson and the opening season started ...

in November 1999, starring

Parminder Nagra Parminder Kaur Nagra (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Jess Bhamra in the film ''Bend It Like Beckham'' (2002) and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama '' ER'' (2003–2009). Her other television r ...

.Murari, Tim
The 'Bend It Like Beckham' Girl
''The Hindu'', 28 July 2002.

Early years

Murari was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India and studied at Bishop Cottons Boys' School, Bangalore. He left India for the UK when he was 18 years old to study electronic engineering. He later switched majors to History and Political Science at the

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, Montreal. While at university, he began writing for ''

'' and other international newspapers. His first job was a reporter on the Kingston Whig Standard, in Kingston, Ontario. Rangan, Baradwaj
Write Connections
''Baradwaj Rangan Blog'', 24 July 2007. Murari moved to London, UK, and worked and wrote for ''The Guardian'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' and other newspapers and magazines before once again shifting base to New York. In the US, Murari wrote film documentaries and contributed to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' among others. He is now living in India.

Novels

Murari's first novel, ''The Marriage'', was published in the UK and India. Since then, he has written 18 books, which have been translated into several languages. Fourteen are works of fiction, including the best sellers ''Taj'', which has been translated into 25 languages, and ''The Taliban Cricket Club'', translated into nine languages.Badrinath, Tulsi
There Are Bits of me Scattered in These Books
''The Hindu'', 5 May 2012. Two of his novels - ''Field of Honour'' (I was very much impressed with Field of Honour- Graham Greene) and ''Four Steps from Paradise'' - are semi-biographical. He has also written a book for children, ''Children of the Enchanted Jungle''. Scholastic published his Young Adult Axxiss Trilogy in 2016 through to 2018. Aleph has published his latest novel, ''Chanakya Returns'' (Indian title) in July 2014. In 2019, the UK publisher, Endeavour Media re-issued his novels, ''TAJ'', ''The Imperial Agent'' and ''The Last Victory'' online as well as print-on-demand. Also in 2019, Speaking Tiger published his travel/history/memoire, ''Empress of the Taj, In search of Mumtaz Mahal.''

Non-fiction

Murari has written five non-fiction books. Two of these are memoirs -- ''My Temporary Son'' and ''Limping to the Centre of the World''. ''Empress of the Taj, In search of Mumtaz Mahal'' is also partly a travel memoire.

Bibliography

Novels

# ''The Marriage'' # ''The Oblivion Tapes'' # ''Lovers Are Not People'' # ''The Shooter'' # ''Field of Honour'' # ''TAJ, A Novel on Mughal India'' # ''Imperial Agent'', a sequel to Kipling's ''

Kim Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynas ...

'' # ''The Last Victory'' Part II of ''Imperial Age'' # ''Enduring Affairs'' # ''Four Steps From Paradise'' # ''The Arrangements of Love'' # ''The Small House'' # ''The Taliban Cricket Club'' # ''Chanakya Returns''

Young Adult

1. Children of the Enchanted Jungle. 2. Axxiss Trilogy. # ''Axxiss and The Magic Medallions.'' # '' Axxiss and The Undersea Kingdom.'' # '' Axxiss and the Parallel Universe.''

Non-fiction

# ''Empress of the Taj, In search of Mumtaz Mahal.'' # ''My Temporary Son: An Orphan's Journey'' # ''Limping to the Centre of the World: A Pilgrimage to Mount Kailash'' # ''Goin’ Home, a Black Family Returns South'' # ''The New Savages: Children of the Liverpool Streets''

Plays

# ''Enter Queen Lear'', starring Jenny Runacre staged in London September 2016. Jenny said: "I do really think it is a fascinating play, with so many levels in it. It is not very often that an actress is given a role that has so much meat in it." # ''Square Circle'' Starring Parminder Nagra. (Also directed) # ''Killing Time'' # ''The Attempted Assassination of Salman Rushdie'' # ''Lovers Are Not People'' # ''The Inquisitor'' # ''Hey, Hero!''

Film/Television

# ''Daayra'' (''The Square Circle'') Writer/Producer. # ''The Only Thing'' # ''Only in America (A TV documentary in three parts)'' Writer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murari, Timeri N. Living people Indian male novelists Indian male dramatists and playwrights Writers from Chennai 1941 births