Garg, Anu 1967-

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GARG, Anu 1967-

PERSONAL: Born April 5, 1967, in Meerut, India; son of Om Nath (a retired government employee) and Krishna (a homemaker; maiden name, Agarwal) Garg; married, July 26, 1995; wife's name Stutie (a writer); children: Ananya. Ethnicity: "Indian." Education: Har-court Butler Technological Institute (Kanpur, India), B.Tech., 1988; Case Western Reserve University, M.S., 1995.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates, P.O. Box 524, Bronxville, NY 10708. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Computer scientist and writer. AT & T Labs, Seattle, WA, consultant.

WRITINGS:

(With wife, Stuti Garg) A Word a Day: A Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English, John Wiley & Sons (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including ACM Software Engineering Notes Journal, Computers Today, Globe & Post, IEEE Institute Newsletter, Mental Floss, and PC World.

SIDELIGHTS: India native Anu Garg provides those of us who want to broaden our grasp of the English language—or just simply add a twist to our everyday conversation—with his book A Word a Day: A Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English. Garg, along his wife, Stutie, has also developed the Word a Day Web site (www.wordsmith.org) to further aid readers with their challenge. In his book he sorts words into categories based on various criteria—length, subject, Latin terms, etc.—then highlights the bizarre or more unusual creations of the English language.

Inspiration for A Word a Day came from a once-a-day e-mail ritual Garg established with acquaintances around the world, each daily e-mail containing a single word—along with definition and etymology—he had discovered through his reading of newspapers or books. It was no surprise when Garg's useful volume sold out only three hours within the initial printing. Katie Hafner, reviewing Garg's book in the New York Times, dubbed it "a delightful, quirky collection," while Robert Armstrong in the Minneapolis Star Tribune commented that "Garg works in the great tradition of Wilfrid Funk and Norman Lewis, whose Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary did wonders for those who wanted to learn how to better express themselves. Garg, however, is more fun."

Garg told CA: "Writing is a way for me to share my love of something with others."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, October 10, 2002, Katie Hafner, review of A Word a Day: A Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English, p. G1; November 28, 2002, Katie Hafner, "A Word of the Day Keeps Banalty at Bay," p. G7.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 20, 2002, review of A Word a Day, p. 22.

Seattle Times, December 15, 1996, review of A Word a Day, p. 22; August 4, 2002, Nicole Brodeur, review of A Word a Day, p. B1.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), February 23, 2003, Robert Armstrong, review of A Word a Day, p. F17.

St Louis Post-Dispatch, June 18, 20008, review of AWord a Day, p. E8.