Anita Nair (born 26 January 1966) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

novelist who writes her books in English. She is best known for her novels '' A Better Man'', ''Mistress'', and '' Lessons in Forgetting''. She has also written poetry, essays, short stories, crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, and children's literature, including ''Muezza and Baby Jaan: Stories from the Quran''.

Early life and education

Nair was born in

Shoranur Shornur is a town and a municipality located in the Palakkad district, in the Indian state of Kerala, located on the banks of the Bharathapuzha River. The town covers an area of 32.28 km2. Geography Shornur is located at . It has an ...

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

district of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Nair was educated in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(Madras) before returning to

, where she gained a BA in

English Language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

and

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Career

Nair was working as the creative director of an advertising agency in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

when she wrote her first book, a collection of short stories called ''Satyr of the Subway'', which she sold to Har-Anand Press. The book won her a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts . Nair's second book was published by

Penguin India Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

, and was the first book by an Indian author to be published by

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

USA. Among Nair's early commercial works were pieces she penned in the late 1990s for The Bangalore Monthly magazine (now calle
Explocity Bangalore
, published by

Explocity Explocity Pvt Ltd is a media and publishing company headquartered in Bangalore. The company was formed by Ramjee Chandran. Explocity has city based publications across India, New York state and Dubai. Corporate history Prior to the inception of ...

in a column titled 'The Economical Epicurean'. Thereafter followed Nair's novel '' The Better Man'' (2000) which was also published in Europe and the United States. In 2002, ''Ladies Coupé'' was elected as one of the five best in India. The novel is about women's conditions in a male dominated society, told with great insight, solidarity and humour. Nair's novels '' The Better Man'' and '' Ladies Coupé'' have been translated into 21 languages. Her 2018 novel ''Eating Wasps'' is an update to ''Ladies Coupé''. In 2002, her debut collection of poems ''Malabar Mind'' was published, and in 2003 ''Where the Rain is Born – Writings about Kerala'' which she has edited. Nair has also written ''The Puffin Book of Myths and Legends'' (2004), a children's book on myths and legends. Nair's writings about Kerala and her poetry has been included in ''The Poetry India Collection'' and a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Poetry Workshop Anthology. Her poems appeared in ''

The Dance of the Peacock ''The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India'' is a 2013 anthology of poems written by one hundred and fifty-one poets; edited by Dr Vivekanand Jha. The one hundred and fifty-one poets include Indians and diasporic Indian ...

: An Anthology of English Poetry from India'', featuring 151 Indian English poets, edited by Vivekanand Jha and published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada. Nair has also written other books, such as ''Mistress'' (2003), ''Adventures of Nonu, the Skating Squirrel'' (2006), ''Living Next Door to Alise'' (2007) and ''Magical Indian Myths'' (2008). Nair's works also include many travelogues. With the play ''Nine Faces of Being'', she became a playwright, adapting the script from her book ''Mistress'' Her book '' Cut Like Wound'' (2012) introduced the fictional character Inspector Gowda. The second book in the series ''Chain of Custody'' was published in 2015. Other works by Nair include ''The Lilac House'' (2012) and ''Alphabet Soup for Lovers'' (2016). Her sixth novel ''Idris: Keeper of The Light'' (2014) is a historical and geographical novel about a Somalian trader who visited Malabar in 1659 AD. She has also written several audiobooks, including ''A Field of Flowers'' (2021) and ''Little Duck Girl'', narrated by Prakash Raj. ''Twin Beds'' was voiced by

Konkona Sen Sharma Konkona Sen Sharma (born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Hindi and Bengali films. She has received two National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. The daughter of filmmakeractress Aparna Sen, Sen S ...

and

Satyadeep Mishra Satyadeep Misra, also known as Satyadeep Mishra, is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi cinema, television and web series. He made his Bollywood debut with the 2011 film ''No One Killed Jessica''. Education Satyadeep is an alumnus of The D ...

, and she voiced the audiobooks ''Why I Killed My Husband'' and ''Satyr of the Subway''. In January 2022, Anita Nair wa
interviewed for the podcast
The Literary City with Ramjee Chandran.

Awards and recognitions

* Arch of Excellence Award by the All India Achievers' Conference, New Delhi for Literature * 2007 LiBeraturpreis, finalist, Germany. * 2008 FLO FICCI Women Achievers Award, for literature * 2009 Montblanc honored her with the launch of the Special Edition writing instrument in India; for her novel contribution to literature, enforcing cross cultural endeavors and enlightening experiences that have transcended an inexhaustible diversity of forms – barriers of language, cultures and identities. * 2012

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award is given each year, since 1958, by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy), to Malayalam writers for their outstanding books of literary merit. The awards are given in various categories.

for her contribution to literature and culture * 2014

The Hindu Literary Prize ''The Hindu'' Literary Prize or ''The Hindu'' Best Fiction Award, established in 2010, is an Indian literary award sponsored by ''The Hindu Literary Review'' which is part of the newspaper ''The Hindu''. It recognizes Indian works in English and ...

shortlist for ''Idris Keeper of the Light'' * 2015 Global Ambassador for Women for Expo May * 2017

Crossword Book Award The Crossword Book Award (formerly known as the Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), the Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), the Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Bo ...

, Jury Award, Children's category, ''Muezza and Baby Jaan'' * 2020

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

appointment as a high-profile supporter

Bibliography

*''Satyr of the Subway & Eleven Other Stories'' 1997, , *'' The Better Man'' New Delhi ; London : Penguin Books, 1999. , *'' Ladies Coupé'' 2001. , *''Malabar Mind – Poetry'' Calicut : Yeti Books, 2002. , *''Where the Rain is Born – Writings about Kerala'' (Editor) 2003 *''Puffin Book of World Myths and Legends'' 2004 *''Mistress'' 2005. , *''Adventures of Nonu, the Skating Squirrel'' 2006. , *''Living Next Door To Alise'' 2007. , *''Magical Indian Myths'' 2008. , *''Goodnight & God Bless'' 2008. , *'' Lessons in Forgetting'' 2010. , *''

Chemmeen ''Chemmeen'' () is a 1965 Indian Malayalam-language romance film, based on the novel of the same name by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It was adapted into a screenplay by S. L. Puram Sadanandan, directed by Ramu Kariat, and produced by Babu Is ...

(Translator) 2011 *'' Cut Like Wound – Literary noir'' 2012. , *''The Lilac House: a novel'' New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2012. , *''Idris – Historical novel'' 2014. , *''Alphabet soup for lovers'', Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India: HarperCollins Publishers India, 2015. , *''Chain of custody : an inspector Gowda novel'', Noida : Harper Black, 2016. , / *''Eating Wasps'', Context, 2018

Personal life

She lives in

with her husband, Suresh Parambath and a son.

References

External links

Official site

Anita's Attic – A Creative Writing Mentorship program by Anita Nair
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, Anita Indian women dramatists and playwrights Living people People from Palakkad district English-language writers from India Indian women novelists 1966 births Indian women children's writers Indian children's writers Indian women essayists Indian women poets 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian novelists Novelists from Kerala Indian women short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers 21st-century Indian short story writers Women writers from Kerala Dramatists and playwrights from Kerala