Devapriya Roy is an Indian author best known for her books, ''Friends from College, Indira'' and ''The Heat and Dust Project.'' She lives in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
with her husband Saurav Jha.
Early life and education
Roy was born in Calcutta and studied in
Calcutta Girl's High School.
She earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree in English literature from
Presidency College and
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
respectively. She obtained a PhD on
Bharata’s
Natyashastra
The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates va ...
from Jawaharlal Nehru University under the supervision of award-winning poet and playwright
H.S. Shivaprakash, and her co-supervisor was Prof Katia Legeret of the
University of Paris VIII
Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution.
It is one of the th ...
.
Career
Roy began her career with ''The Vague Woman’s Handbook'', a quirky novel that was published by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
in March 2011 and subsequently appeared on the ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new o ...
'' Bestseller List.
Her second book was ''The Weight Loss Club: The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative'', yet another quirky novel published by
Rupa & Co. in July 2013.
Her 2015 book, ''The Heat and Dust Project'' (written along with husband
Saurav Jha
Saurav Jha is an Indian economic analyst, author, and commentator on geostrategic affairs. His first book, ''The Upside Down Book of Nuclear Power'', was published by HarperCollins in March 2010 to favourable reviews, and was translated into se ...
) chronicles the story of travelling through India on local buses "on a very very tight budget" which debuted at no.1 on the Hindustan Times-AC Nielsen list and also got excellent reviews. ''The Heat and Dust Project'' is also a first-of-its-kind dynamic book as the couple used
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
to document their journey even as it was underway.
A teaser for the sequel of ''The Heat and Dust Project'', called ''Man. Woman. Road.'', was published in
''Indian Express'' recently.
In 2017, Roy authored a graphic biography of
Indira Gandhi, ''Indira,'' with artist
Priya Kuriyan – a unique book about a young student, Indira Thapa (named after Indira Gandhi), who is set an unusual assignment by her favourite teacher: to write an essay around her name. The book, published by Westland's imprint, Contxt, alternates between chapters of fictional prose and graphic biography.
In June 2018, she started the publication of a serialised novel, ''The Romantics of College Street,'' in
The Telegraph India
''The Telegraph'' is an Indian English daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 7 July 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper competes with ''The Times of India''. The newspaper is the eighth most-wid ...
.
It was then consolidated as a book, and published by Westland under the title
Friends from College' a year later. A love letter to
College Street in Calcutta, it follows various characters returning to Calcutta more than twenty years after college.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Devapriya
English-language writers from India
1984 births
Living people
Bengali writers
Indian women novelists
Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
Women writers from West Bengal
Indian novelists
21st-century Indian novelists
Indian writers
21st-century Indian writers
21st-century Indian women writers