Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer (1927–)

German-born British fiction writer and screenwriter. Pronunciation: JAHB-vah-lah. Born Ruth Prawer in Cologne, Germany, May 7, 1927; dau. of Marcus Prawer and Eleonora (Cohn) Prawer; Queen Mary College, MA, 1951; m. Cyrus S.H. Jhabvala, 1951; children: daughters, Renana, Firoza, and Ava Jhabvala.

Writer whose status as a "permanent refugee" gave rise to a unique view of cultural traditions; lived in Germany (1927–39), England (1939–51), India (1951–75), and New York (1975–); published 1st novel To Whom She Will (Amrita, 1956), followed by The Nature of Passion (1957), The Householder (1959), Shakespeare Wallah (1973), A Stronger Climate: Nine Stories (1968), Travelers (1973), Autobiography of a Princess, Also Being the Adventures of an American Film Director in the Land of the Maharajas (1975), Heat and Dust (1974), Out of India: Selected Stories (1987), Shards of Memory (1996) and East into Upper East (1998), among others; wrote many screenplays for Merchant-Ivory, including Shakespeare Wallah (1965), The Guru (1969), Bombay Talkie (1970), Autobiography of a Princess (1975), Roseland (1977), The Europeans (1979), Heat and Dust (1983), The Bostonians (1984), Jefferson in Paris (1995) and Surviving Picasso (1996). Won Booker Prize for Heat and Dust (1975); received MacArthur Foundation grant (1984); won Academy Awards for Best Screenplay Adaptation for A Room With a View (1986) and Howards End (1992); won Best Screenplay Adaptation award for Mr. and Mrs. Bridge by NY Film Critics Circle (1990); nominated for Academy Award for Best Screenplay Adaptation for Remains of the Day (1993); received Writers Guild of America's Screen Laurel Award, its highest honor (1994).

See also Aruna Chakravarti, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in Empathy and Exile (B.R., 1998); and Women in World History.