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Kiran Desai

 
Who2 Biography: Kiran Desai, Writer
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  • Born: 3 September 1971
  • Birthplace: New Delhi, India
  • Best Known As: The author of the novel The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai is the Indian-American writer whose novel The Inheritance of Loss (2006) won the Man Booker Prize and the fiction award from the National Book Critics Circle. The daughter of novelist Anita Desai (author of 1984's In Custody), Kiran Desai grew up in India, England and the United States. After starting college studies in science she switched to writing, and published her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, in 1998. The book earned praise from critics and got a boost from kind words by Salman Rushdie. Desai then spent six years writing The Inheritance of Loss, a novel that examines the intricacies of relationships in post-colonial India, England and the U.S.

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Kiran Desai

Kiran Desai, mid-2000s
Born September 3, 1971 (1971-09-03) (age 38)
New Delhi, India
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Indian
Writing period 1998 to present
Notable work(s) The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971)[1] is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize[1] and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. She is the daughter of the noted author Anita Desai.

Contents

Early life and education

Kiran Desai was born in New Delhi, India, and lived there until she was 14. She and her mother then lived in England for a year, and finally moved to the United States where she studied creative writing at Bennington College, Hollins University and Columbia University.[2]

Awards and recognition

Her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was published in 1998 and received accolades from such notable figures as Salman Rushdie.[3] It went on to win the Betty Trask Award,[4] a prize given by the Society of Authors for the best new novels by citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations under the age of 35.[5]

Her second book, The Inheritance of Loss, (2006) has been widely praised by critics throughout Asia, Europe and the United States and won the 2006 Man Booker Prize[1] as well as the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.[6]

In September 2007 she was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme hosted by Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3.[7] In May 2007 she was the featured author at the inaugural Asia House Festival of Asian Literature.

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Booker Prize Foundation (10 October 2006). "The Inheritance of Loss Wins the Man Booker Prize 2006". Press release. http://www.themanbookerprize.com/pressoffice/release?r=28#titletop. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 
  2. ^ "Bold Type: Interview with Kiran Desai". Random House. http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0599/desai/interview.html. Retrieved 2007-09-04. 
  3. ^ "Hullabaloo In The Guava Orchard". BookBrowse. http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=317. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 
  4. ^ "Society of Authors — Prizes, Grants and Awards". Society of Authors. http://www.societyofauthors.net/soa/page_id_sub.php4?parentid=7&pid=52&par_nm=Prizes,%20grants%20and%20awards. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 
  5. ^ "The Betty Trask Prize and Awards". Christchurch City Libraries. http://library.christchurch.org.nz/LiteraryPrizes/BettyTrask/. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 
  6. ^ Skloot, Rebecca (2007-03-08). "And the 2006 NBCC Award for Fiction Goes to ...". Critical Mass. The National Book Critics Circle. http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-2006-nbcc-award-for-fiction-goes-to_08.html#links. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
  7. ^ BBC - Radio 3 - Private Passions

External links

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Man Booker Prize for Fiction
1969–1980

P. H. Newby (1969) · Bernice Rubens (1970) · V. S. Naipaul (1971) · John Berger (1972) · James Gordon Farrell (1973) · Nadine Gordimer / Stanley Middleton (1974) · Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) · David Storey (1976) · Paul Scott (1977) · Iris Murdoch (1978) · Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) · William Golding (1980)
1981–2000

Salman Rushdie (1981) · Thomas Keneally (1982) · J. M. Coetzee (1983) · Anita Brookner (1984) · Keri Hulme (1985) · Kingsley Amis (1986) · Penelope Lively (1987) · Peter Carey (1988) · Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) · A. S. Byatt (1990) · Ben Okri (1991) · Michael Ondaatje / Barry Unsworth (1992) · Roddy Doyle (1993) · James Kelman (1994) · Pat Barker (1995) · Graham Swift (1996) · Arundhati Roy (1997) · Ian McEwan (1998) · J. M. Coetzee (1999) · Margaret Atwood (2000)
2001–present

Peter Carey (2001) · Yann Martel (2002) · DBC Pierre (2003) · Alan Hollinghurst (2004) · John Banville (2005) · Kiran Desai (2006) · Anne Enright (2007) · Aravind Adiga (2008) · Hilary Mantel (2009)

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