Anuradha Roy (novelist)

Anuradha Roy is an Indian novelist, journalist and editor. She has written four novels: An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008), The Folded Earth (2011), Sleeping on Jupiter (2015) and All the Lives We Never Lived (2018).

Anuradha Roy
Born	1967 (age 53–54)[1] Calcutta
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Indian
Genre	Novel, postcolonial
Spouse	Rukun Advani
Website
Anuradha Roy blogspot

Biography

Roy was born in 1967 in Kolkata, and spent the early part of her childhood accompanying her father, a geologist, on field trips in rural India. Following illness, her father retired to Hyderabad, where she spent the rest of her childhood studying in private schools. She studied English literature at Presidency College, then affiliated with the University of Calcutta, and did a second English degree, the English Tripos, at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) at the University of Cambridge.[1][2]

Roy and her husband, publisher Rukun Advani, live in Ranikhet.[2][3]

Career

Writing

Roy's first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, was picked up for publication after she shared initial pages with writer and publisher Christopher MacLehose, and has been translated into eighteen languages.[2][1][4] It was named by World Literature Today as one of the "60 Essential English Language Works of Modern Indian Literature".[5]

Her second novel, The Folded Earth, won the Economist Crossword Prize and is widely translated.

Sleeping on Jupiter, her third novel, won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.[6]

Her fourth novel, All the Lives We Never Lived, won the Tata Book of the Year Award for Fiction 2018, and was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018. [7] It was also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2020.[8]

Her essays and reviews have appeared in newspapers and magazines in India (Indian Express; Telegraph; The Hindu), the US (Orion) and Britain (Guardian, The Economist), and most recently in John Freeman, ed., Tales of Two Planets. [1]

Publishing

Roy initially worked at the Oxford University Press in New Delhi, as an acquisitions editor, but left following a dispute regarding the OUP's employment policies, which Roy stated sought to prohibit her and her husband, Rukun Advani, from working in the same department of the Press.[2] Advani and Roy founded Permanent Black, a publishing company focusing on academic literature, in 2000, and Roy is a designer for the company.[2][1][9] Roy had previously worked with Stree, an Indian independent publisher in Kolkata.[10]

Novels

• An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008)
• The Folded Earth (2011)
• Sleeping on Jupiter (2015)
• All the Lives We Never Lived (2018)

Awards and honors

• 2004 The Outlook/Picador India Non-Fiction Competition, "Cooking Women"[11]
• 2011 The Hindu Literary Prize, shortlist, The Folded Earth[12]
• 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, longlist, The Folded Earth[13]
• 2011 Economist Crossword Book Award, winner, The Folded Earth [14][15]
• 2015 The Hindu Literary Prize, shortlist, Sleeping on Jupiter[16]
• 2015 Man Booker Prize, longlist, Sleeping on Jupiter [17]
• 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, winner, Sleeping on Jupiter[18]
• 2018 JCB Prize, shortlist, All the Lives We Never Lived
• 2019 The Hindu Literary Prize, shortlist, All the Lives We Never Lived[19]
• 2019 Tata Book of the Year Award for Fiction 2018, winner, All the Lives We Never Lived
• 2019 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018, longlist, All the Lives We Never Lived
• 2020 International Dublin Literary Award 2020, shortlist, All the Lives We Never Lived

References

1. "ANURADHA ROY: BIOGRAPHY". Web Biography, promoting female writers. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
2. Armitstead, Claire (16 July 2018). "Anuradha Roy: 'Inequality in India has never been more catastrophic'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
3. Someshwar, Manreet Sodhi. "Anuradha Roy: Past forward". Punch Magazine. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
4. Jillian, Lara (23 August 2011). "'An Atlas of Impossible Longing' Has Archeological Roots that Stretch into the Very Hills of Songarh". Pop Matters. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
5. "60 Essential English-Language Works of Modern Indian Literature". World Literature Today. 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
6. "Anuradha Roy's Sleeping on Jupiter makes it to Man Booker long list". DNA India. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
7. "HarperCollins, Anuradha Roy, Crabtree among Tata Literature Live award winners". 21 November 2018.
8. Doyle, Martin. "International Dublin Literary Award: Anna Burns among eight women on shortlist". The Irish Times.
9. "Permanent Black". Black.blogspot.com. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
10. "Interview - Anuradha Roy | Asia Literary Review". www.asialiteraryreview.com. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
11. "And the prize goes to..." Outlook. 13 February 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
12. "Shortlisted work for 2011 prize". The Hindu. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
13. "Man Asian Literary Awards: 5 Indians in long-list". Ibnlive.com. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
14. "The Hindu's Aman Sethi bags award for A Free Man". The Hindu. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
15. Shruti Dhapola (19 October 2012). "Anuradha Roy, Aman Sethi win at Economist-Crossword awards". Firstpost.com. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
16. "The Hindu Prize 2015 Shortlist". The Hindu. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
17. "Man Booker Prize announces 2015 longlist | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com.
18. India, Press Trust of (16 January 2015). "Indian author Anuradha Roy wins USD 50,000 DSC Prize". Business Standard. Press Trust of India. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
19. "The Hindu Prize 2018 shortlists announced". The Hindu. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2019.