Amit Chaudhuri
Encyclopedia
Amit Chaudhuri is an internationally recognised Indian English
author and academic. He is currently Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia
.
, Balliol College, Oxford
and has also been Creative Arts Fellow at Wolfson College
. He was Leverhulme Fellow at Cambridge University, a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, and Samuel Fischer Guest Professor of Literature at Freie University, Berlin.
His novels have won several major awards and he has received international critical acclaim. His latest book is The Immortals, a novel about music in the modern world. 2008 saw the publication of Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature and Culture, bringing together his major work as a critic. A collection of poems entitled St. Cyril Road and Other Poems appeared in 2005, and in 2001 he edited the influential The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. His study of D.H. Lawrence's poetry, D.H. Lawrence and 'Difference': Postcoloniality and the Poetry of the Present, was called 'truly groundbreaking' by Terry Eagleton
in the London Review of Books. His work appeared in The Guardian.
Amit Chaudhuri is also an acclaimed Indian classical music
ian, and an internationally recognised singer and composer of Indo-Western experimental music, with an album from each of these genres. His project in experimental music, bringing together the raga, jazz, the blues, rock, techno, disco, and the Indian popular song, is called This is not Fusion, and has been performed worldwide.
On March 18, 2008, he was included in the panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009, alongside writer Jane Smiley
and essayist Andrey Kurkov
. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
.
Short stories
Poetry
Non fiction
Anthologies
Interviews
Indian English
Indian English is an umbrella term used to describe dialects of the English language spoken primarily in the Republic of India.As a result of British colonial rule until Indian independence in 1947 English is an official language of India and is widely used in both spoken and literary contexts...
author and academic. He is currently Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
.
Life
Amit Chaudhuri grew up in Bombay. He has written numerous novels, short stories, poems and critical essays in English. He attended University College LondonUniversity College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Balliol College, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and has also been Creative Arts Fellow at Wolfson College
Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows. It caters to a wide range of...
. He was Leverhulme Fellow at Cambridge University, a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, and Samuel Fischer Guest Professor of Literature at Freie University, Berlin.
His novels have won several major awards and he has received international critical acclaim. His latest book is The Immortals, a novel about music in the modern world. 2008 saw the publication of Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature and Culture, bringing together his major work as a critic. A collection of poems entitled St. Cyril Road and Other Poems appeared in 2005, and in 2001 he edited the influential The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. His study of D.H. Lawrence's poetry, D.H. Lawrence and 'Difference': Postcoloniality and the Poetry of the Present, was called 'truly groundbreaking' by Terry Eagleton
Terry Eagleton
Terence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...
in the London Review of Books. His work appeared in The Guardian.
Amit Chaudhuri is also an acclaimed Indian classical music
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
ian, and an internationally recognised singer and composer of Indo-Western experimental music, with an album from each of these genres. His project in experimental music, bringing together the raga, jazz, the blues, rock, techno, disco, and the Indian popular song, is called This is not Fusion, and has been performed worldwide.
On March 18, 2008, he was included in the panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009, alongside writer Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained an A.B. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the...
and essayist Andrey Kurkov
Andrey Kurkov
Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov is a Ukrainian novelist who writes in Russian. He is the author of 13 novels and 5 books for children. His work is currently translated into 25 languages, including English, Japanese, French, Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew...
. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
.
Awards
- 1991 Betty Trask AwardBetty Trask AwardThe Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...
and Commonwealth Writers' PrizeCommonwealth Writers' PrizeCommonwealth Writers is an initiative by the Commonwealth Foundation to unearth, develop and promote the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth. It's flagship are two literary awards and a website...
for Best First Book for A Strange and Sublime Address - 1994 Encore AwardEncore AwardThe £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel - now awarded biennially - was first awarded in 1990. It is administered by the Society of Authors and is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second...
, winner for Afternoon Raag - 2000 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for A New World
- 2002 Sahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi AwardSahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
, winner for A New World - 2011 DSC Prize for South Asian LiteratureDSC Prize for South Asian LiteratureDSC Prize for South Asian Literature is a literary prize awarded annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South Asia themes such as culture, politics, history, or people. It is for an original full-length novel written in English, or translated into English. The first award...
, shortlisted for The Immortals
Works
Novels- A Strange and Sublime Address, 1991; Minerva, 1992, ISBN 9780749399610
- Afternoon Raag, Heinemann, 1993, ISBN 9780434123490
- Freedom Song, Picador, 1998; Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, ISBN 9780375404276 excerpt; Random House Digital, Inc., 2002, ISBN 9780375724800
Short stories
- Real Time: Stories and a reminiscence, Picador, 2002, ISBN 9780330491303
Poetry
- St. Cyril Road and Other Poems (Penguin, 2005)
Non fiction
- D. H. Lawrence and ‘Difference’: Postcoloniality and the Poetry of the Present (Oxford, 2003)
- Small Orange Flags (Seagull, 2003) reviewed
Anthologies
- Picador/Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature (2001)
- Memory's Gold: Writings on Calcutta (2008)
External links
- ‘Surpanakha’ story at The Little Magazine
- The Writers a poem from The Observer
- "An unlikely radical", The Hindu
- A date with Amit Chaudhuri
Interviews
- Interview with Amit Chaudhuri, Oxonian Review, April 2009
- "I Wish Indian Writing in English Were Less Triumphant" Deutsche Welle
- http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2007/2092789.htm Transcript of interview with Ramona KovalRamona KovalRamona Koval is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist.Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of the Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950....
, The Book ShowThe Book ShowThe Book Show is an Australian ABC radio program for the discussion of everything relating to the written word. It is broadcast live around Australia on Radio National with a daily weekday morning show which is then replayed nightly and also has a Sunday evening show. The show is hosted by Ramona...
, ABC Radio National, 20 Novembver 2007