Desai, Anita (1937–)
Desai, Anita (1937–)
Indian novelist and short-story writer. Born Anita Muzumdar, June 24, 1937, in Mussoorie, a hill station in Uttar Pradesh, India; dau. of D.N. Mazumdar (Bengali businessman) and Toni Nime (German); Miranda House, Delhi University, BA in English, 1957; m. Ashvin Desai (businessman), 1958; children: 4.
Widely read outside of India and shortlisted 3 times for Booker Prize, won international fame with Fire on the Mountain (1977), which won India's National Academy of Letters Award, and Clear Light of Day(1980); writings, which often depict lives of anglicized middle class in India, also include The Peacock (1963), Voices of the City (1965), Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975), Games at Twilight and Other Stories(1978), In Custody (1984), Baumgartner's Bombay (1988), Journey to Ithaca (1995), Fasting, Feasting (1999), Diamond Dust (2000) and The Zigzag Way (2004); won Guardian Award for children's fiction for The Village by the Sea (1982); taught at Girton, Smith, and Mount Holyoke colleges; became creative writing teacher (one semester a year) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1993). Awarded title Padma Shri by the president of India (1988).