Tejpal, Tarun J.

PERSONAL:

Born in India; married; wife's name Geetan; father.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New Delhi, India. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist and publisher. Served as editor for various publications, including India Today, Indian Express, and as managing editor of Outlook; IndiaInk (publishing house), New Delhi, India, cofounder; Tehelka.com, New Delhi, India, founder and editor-in-chief, 2000—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Prix Millepages; named of Asia's fifty most powerful communicators by Asiaweek; named one of fifty leaders at the forefront of change in Asia by Business Week.

WRITINGS:

The Alchemy of Desire (novel), HarperCollins with the India Today Group (India), 2005, Ecco (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including the Paris Review, Guardian, Financial Times, and Prospect.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tarun J. Tejpal is a journalist and publisher in New Delhi, India. In 2000, he founded Tehelka.com, an online magazine geared toward news and politics that specializes in sting investigations. The publication's hard-line style has led to Tejpal being persecuted on several occasions and nearly led to his bankruptcy. Tejpal was forced to relaunch the company in 2004, altering its format to include a weekly national newspaper. Asiaweek included Tejpal in their list of Asia's fifty most powerful communicators, while Business Week listed him as one of fifty leaders at the forefront of change in Asia.

The Alchemy of Desire, Tejpal's first novel, allows him to exhibit a different side of his writing talent. The book delves into the many facets of Indian society and history, including colonialism and independence and regional separations, but above all it is a love story. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Restless spirits disrupt a contemporary marriage in this epic first novel set against the vivid backdrop of India's shift into modernity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 2006, Marta Segal Block, review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 29.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2006, review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 808.

Library Journal, October 15, 2006, Leslie Patterson, review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 56.

Publishers Weekly, September 8, 2006, review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 31.

Spectator, May 7, 2005, Lee Langley, "Love Is All You Need," review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 53.

Times Literary Supplement, November 25, 2005, Chitralekha Basu, "The Greatest Glue," review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 20.

World Literature Today, September-October, 2006, Ramlal Agarwal, review of The Alchemy of Desire, p. 71.

ONLINE

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online,http://www.sjonline.com/ (December 2, 2006), Vikram Johri, "All and Nothing: A Journey of Desire."

South-Asian Online,http://www.the-south-asian.com/ (May, 2005), Sanjay Austa, "From Naipaul to Tejpal: Alchemy of Praise and Admiration."