Last Updated: 02 Oct, 2023 | Views: 662
Age: 87
Profession: Writer
Other Profession(s): Professor
Famous For: Mother of the Indian psychological novel genre
Higher Education: B.A. in English literature (University of Delhi)
About (Profile/Biography):
Anita Mazumdar, popular as Anita Desai, is an Indian author who holds the title of Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at MIT. She has been named three times to the Booker Prize shortlist as a writer. She received a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain from India's National Academy of Letters. For The Village by the Sea, she received the British Guardian Prize. A collection of short stories titled Games at Twilight as well as Voices in the City, The Peacock, Fire on the Mountain, and more. She is a Member of the Royal of Literature in London and serves on the Lalit Kala Akademi's advisory council.
Career:
In 1958: She established Writers Workshop, a publishing company, in partnership with P. Lal.
In 1963: Desai published Cry The Peacock, her debut book.
In 1984: She wrote a book called In Custody, which was included on the Booker Prize shortlist and recounts the story of an aging Urdu poet.
In 1993: She wrote the book In Custody, which Merchant Ivory Productions turned into an English movie with the same name, directed by Ismail Merchant, with a film by Shahrukh Husain.
In 2011: she published The Artist of Disappearance, a collection of short stories.
Achievements and Awards:
In 1978: She won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.
In 2000: Desai was awarded the Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature.
In 2014: She was honored with the Padma Bhushan.
Unknown Facts:
As a child, Desai was raised in New Delhi, India by Indian parents and German heritage. She spoke German at home, as well as Urdu and Hindi to neighbors and friends.
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