Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri
[Minzesheimer, Bob]
''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', August 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italian.
Her debut collection of short-stories ''
Interpreter of Maladies
''Interpreter of Maladies'' is a book collection of nine short stories by American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold ...
'' (1999) won the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the
PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingwa ...
, and her first novel, ''
The Namesake'' (2003), was adapted into the popular
film of the same name.
''The Namesake'' was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and was made into a major motion picture. ''
Unaccustomed Earth
''Unaccustomed Earth'' is a collection of short stories from American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It is her second collection of stories, following '' Interpreter of Maladies'' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). As with much of Lahiri's work, ...
'' (2008) won the
Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
__NOTOC__
The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented betwe ...
, while her second novel, ''
The Lowland'' (2013), was a finalist for both the
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
and the
National Book Award for Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
. On January 22, 2015, Lahiri won the US$50,000 DSC Prize for Literature for ''The Lowland'' In these works, Lahiri explored the Indian-immigrant experience in America. In 2011, Lahiri moved to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Italy and has since then published two books of essays, and in 2018, published her first novel in Italian called ''
Dove mi trovo'' and also compiled, edited and translated the ''Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories'' which consists of 40 Italian short stories written by 40 different Italian writers. She has also translated some of her own writings and those of other authors from Italian into English.
In 2014, Lahiri was awarded the
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
.
She was a professor of creative writing at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
from 2015 to 2022.
In 2022, she became the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at her ''alma mater'',
Barnard College of Columbia University.
Early and personal life
Lahiri was born in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, the daughter of Indian immigrants from the Indian state of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
. Her family moved to the United States when she was three;
Lahiri considers herself an American and has said, "I wasn't born here, but I might as well have been."
Lahiri grew up in
Kingston,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, where her father Amar Lahiri worked as a librarian at the
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...
;
the protagonist in "The Third and Final Continent", the story which concludes ''Interpreter of Maladies'', is modeled after him.
[Flynn, Gillian]
"Passage To India: First-time author Jhumpa Lahiri nabs a Pulitzer,"
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
, April 28, 2000. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. Lahiri's mother wanted her children to grow up knowing their
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
heritage, and her family often visited relatives in Calcutta (now
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
).
[Aguiar, Arun]
"One on One With Jhumpa Lahiri"
Pifmagazine.com, July 28, 1999. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
When Lahiri began kindergarten in Kingston, Rhode Island, her teacher decided to call her by her familiar name Jhumpa because it was easier to pronounce than her more formal given names.
Lahiri recalled, "I always felt so embarrassed by my name.... You feel like you're causing someone pain just by being who you are."
[Anastas, Benjamin]
"Books: Inspiring Adaptation"
, ''Men's Vogue
''Men's Vogue'' was a monthly men's magazine that covered fashion, design, art, culture, sports and technology. The premier issue was August 2005. On 30 October 2008 Condé Nast announced that they intended to fold the magazine into ''Vogue'' prope ...
'', March 2007. Retrieved on April 13, 2008. Her ambivalence over her identity was the inspiration for the mixed feelings of Gogol, the protagonist of her novel ''The Namesake'', over his own unusual name.
In an editorial in ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', Lahiri claims that she has "felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new." Much of her experiences growing up as a child were marked by these two sides tugging away at one another. When she became an adult, she found that she was able to be part of these two dimensions without the embarrassment and struggle that she had when she was a child. Lahiri graduated from
South Kingstown High School
South Kingstown High School (SKHS), originally known as the Wakefield High School is a public high school located in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Approximately 931 students attend South Kingstown High School in grades 9–12. South Kingstown Hi ...
and received her B.A. in English literature from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1989.
Lahiri then earned advanced degrees from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
: an M.A. in English, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, an M.A. in Comparative Literature, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. Her dissertation, completed in 1997, was titled "Accursed Palace: The Italian palazzo on the Jacobean stage (1603–1625)". Her principal advisers were William Carroll (English) and Hellmut Wohl (Art History). She took a fellowship at Provincetown's
Fine Arts Work Center
The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise devoted to encouraging the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to the propagation of aesthetic values and experience, and to the restoratio ...
, which lasted for the next two years (1997–1998). Lahiri has taught creative writing at Boston University and the
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
.
In 2001, Lahiri married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, a journalist who was then deputy editor of ''
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' Latin America, and who is now senior editor of ''
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' Latin America. In 2012, Lahiri moved to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
with her husband and their two children, Octavio (born 2002) and Noor (b. 2005).
On July 1, 2015, Lahiri joined the
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
faculty as a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts.
Literary career
Lahiri's early short stories faced rejection from publishers "for years". Her debut short story collection, ''
Interpreter of Maladies
''Interpreter of Maladies'' is a book collection of nine short stories by American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold ...
'', was finally released in 1999. The stories address sensitive dilemmas in the lives of Indians or Indian immigrants, with themes such as marital difficulties, the bereavement over a stillborn child, and the disconnection between first and second generation United States immigrants. Lahiri later wrote, "When I first started writing I was not conscious that my subject was the Indian-American experience. What drew me to my craft was the desire to force the two worlds I occupied to mingle on the page as I was not brave enough, or mature enough, to allow in life."
The collection was praised by American critics, but received mixed reviews in India, where reviewers were alternately enthusiastic and upset Lahiri had "not paint
dIndians in a more positive light."
[Wiltz, Teresa]
"The Writer Who Began With a Hyphen: Jhumpa Lahiri, Between Two Cultures"
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
, October 8, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-15. ''Interpreter of Maladies'' sold 600,000 copies and received the 2000
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (only the seventh time a story collection had won the award).
[Farnsworth, Elizabeth]
"Pulitzer Prize Winner-Fiction"
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
NewsHour
''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...
, April 12, 2000. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
In 2003, Lahiri published her first novel, ''
The Namesake''.
The theme and plot of this story was influenced in part by a family story she heard growing up. Her father's cousin was involved in a train wreck and was only saved when the workers saw a beam of light reflected off of a watch he was wearing. Similarly, the protagonist's father in ''The Namesake'' was rescued because his peers recognized the books that he read by Russian author
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
. The father and his wife emigrated to the United States as young adults. After this life-changing experience, he named his son Gogol and his daughter Sonali. Together the two children grow up in a culture with different mannerisms and customs that clash with what their parents have taught them. A
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
of ''The Namesake'' was released in March 2007, directed by
Mira Nair
Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural sphe ...
and starring
Kal Penn
Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portrayin ...
as Gogol and Bollywood stars
Tabu
Tabu may refer to:
Cultural and legal concepts
*Taboo (spelled ''tabu'' in earlier historical records), something that is unacceptable in society
*Tapu (Polynesian culture) (also spelled ''tabu''), a Polynesian cultural concept from which the wor ...
and
Irrfan Khan
Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020), also known simply as Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in In ...
as his parents. Lahiri herself made a cameo as "Aunt Jhumpa".
Lahiri's second collection of short stories, ''
Unaccustomed Earth
''Unaccustomed Earth'' is a collection of short stories from American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It is her second collection of stories, following '' Interpreter of Maladies'' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). As with much of Lahiri's work, ...
'', was released on April 1, 2008. Upon its publication, ''Unaccustomed Earth'' achieved the rare distinction of debuting at number 1 on
''The New York Times'' best seller list.
[Garner, Dwight]
"Jhumpa Lahiri, With a Bullet"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' Paper Cuts blog, April 10, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-12. ''New York Times Book Review'' editor,
Dwight Garner
Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...
, stated, "It's hard to remember the last genuinely serious, well-written work of fiction—particularly a book of stories—that leapt straight to No. 1; it's a powerful demonstration of Lahiri's newfound commercial clout."
Lahiri has also had a relationship with ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine, in which she has published short stories and non-fiction.
Since 2005, Lahiri has been a vice president of the
PEN American Center
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate Freedom of speech, free expression in the United States and worldwide through the ad ...
, an organization designed to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers.
In February 2010, she was appointed a member of the
Committee on the Arts and Humanities, along with five others.
![Jhumpa Lahiri Mantova](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Jhumpa_Lahiri_Mantova.jpg)
In September 2013, her novel ''
The Lowland'' was placed on the shortlist for the
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
,
which ultimately went to ''
The Luminaries
''The Luminaries'' is a 2013 novel by Eleanor Catton. Set in New Zealand's South Island in 1866, the novel follows Walter Moody, a prospector who travels to the West Coast settlement of Hokitika to make his fortune on the goldfields. Instead ...
'' by
Eleanor Catton
Eleanor Catton (born 24 September 1985) is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International In ...
. The following month it was also long-listed for the
National Book Award for Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...
, and revealed to be a finalist on October 16, 2013.
["2013 National Book Awards"](_blank)
National Book Foundation. Retrieved September 4, 2015. However, on November 20, 2013, it lost out for that award to
James McBride and his novel ''
The Good Lord Bird''.
In December 2015, Lahiri published a non-fiction essay called "Teach Yourself Italian" in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' about her experience learning
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
. In the essay she declared that she is now only writing in Italian, and the essay itself was translated from Italian to English. That same year, she published her first book in Italian, ''In altre parole'', in which she wrote her book about her experience learning the language; an English translation by
Ann Goldstein titled ''In Other Words'' was published in 2016.
Lahiri was the winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 for her book ''The Lowland'' at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival for which she entered Limca Book of Records.
In 2017, Lahiri received the
PEN/Malamud Award
The PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Ma ...
for excellence in the short story.
In 2018, Lahiri published her first novel in Italian, ''
Dove mi trovo'' (2018). In 2019, she compiled, edited and translated the ''Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories'' which consists of 40 Italian short stories written by 40 different Italian writers.
Literary focus
Lahiri's writing is characterized by her "plain" language and her characters, often Indian immigrants to America who must navigate between the cultural values of their homeland and their adopted home.
[Chotiner, Isaac]
"Interviews: Jhumpa Lahiri"
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
, March 18, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.[Lahiri, Jhumpa]
"My Two Lives"
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
, March 6, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
Lahiri's fiction is
autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
and frequently draws upon her own experiences as well as those of her parents, friends, acquaintances, and others in the
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
communities with which she is familiar. Lahiri examines her characters' struggles, anxieties, and biases to chronicle the nuances and details of immigrant psychology and behavior.
Until ''Unaccustomed Earth'', she focused mostly on first-generation Indian American
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
and their struggle to raise a family in a country very different from theirs. Her stories describe their efforts to keep their children acquainted with
Indian culture and traditions and to keep them close even after they have grown up in order to hang onto the Indian tradition of a
joint family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem a ...
, in which the parents, their children and the children's families live under the same roof.
''
Unaccustomed Earth
''Unaccustomed Earth'' is a collection of short stories from American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It is her second collection of stories, following '' Interpreter of Maladies'' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). As with much of Lahiri's work, ...
'' departs from this earlier original ethos, as Lahiri's characters embark on new stages of development. These
stories scrutinize the fate of the
second and third generations. As succeeding generations become increasingly
assimilated into American culture and are comfortable in constructing perspectives outside of their country of origin, Lahiri's fiction shifts to the needs of the individual. She shows how later generations depart from the constraints of their immigrant parents, who are often devoted to their community and their responsibility to other immigrants.
Television
Lahiri worked on the third season of the HBO television program ''
In Treatment
''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series '' BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman.
The series is about a ...
''. That season featured a character named Sunil, a widower who moves to the United States from India and struggles with grief and with culture shock. Although she is credited as a writer on these episodes, her role was more as a consultant on how a Bengali man might perceive Brooklyn.
Awards
* 1993 – TransAtlantic Award from the Henfield Foundation
* 1999 –
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry.
The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...
for short story "Interpreter of Maladies"
* 1999 –
PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingwa ...
(Best Fiction Debut of the Year) for "Interpreter of Maladies"
* 1999 – "Interpreter of Maladies" selected as one of ''Best American Short Stories''
* 2000 – Addison Metcalf Award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
* 2000 – "The Third and Final Continent" selected as one of ''Best American Short Stories''
* 2000 – ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''s Best Debut of the Year for "Interpreter of Maladies"
* 2000 –
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her debut "Interpreter of Maladies"
* 2000 –
James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...
's M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for "Indian Takeout" in ''
Food & Wine Magazine
''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...
''
* 2002 –
Guggenheim Fellows
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
hip
* 2002 – "Nobody's Business" selected as one of ''Best American Short Stories''
* 2008 –
Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
__NOTOC__
The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented betwe ...
for "Unaccustomed Earth"
* 2009 –
Asian American Literary Award
The Asian American Literary Awards are a set of annual awards that have been presented by The Asian American Writers' Workshop since 1998. The awards include a set of honors for excellence in fiction, poetry and nonfiction, chosen by a panel of l ...
for "Unaccustomed Earth"
* 2009 – Premio Gregor von Rezzori for foreign fiction translated into Italian for "Unaccustomed Earth" ("Una nuova terra"), translated by Federica Oddera (Guanda)
* 2014 –
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an international literary prize awarded annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South AsiaNote: South Asia for the purposes of the prize is defined as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka ...
for ''The Lowland''
* 2014 –
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
*2017 – Pen/Malamud Award
Works
Novels
*
* ''
The Lowland'' (2013)
*
*
Short story collections
''
Interpreter of Maladies
''Interpreter of Maladies'' is a book collection of nine short stories by American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold ...
'' (1999)
* "A Temporary Matter" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" (previously published in ''
The Louisville Review'')
* "Interpreter of Maladies" (previously published in the ''
Agni Review
''AGNI'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1972 that publishes poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, interviews, and artwork twice a year in print and weekly online from its home at Boston University. Its coeditors are Sven Birkerts and Will ...
'')
* "A Real Durwan" (previously published in the Harvard Review)
* "Sexy" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "Mrs. Sen's" (previously published in ''Salamander'')
* "This Blessed House" (previously published in ''
Epoch
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
'')
* "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" (previously published in ''
Story Quarterly
''StoryQuarterly'' is an American literary journal based at Rutgers University–Camden in Camden, New Jersey. It was founded in 1975 by Tom Bracken, F.R. Katz, Pamela Painter and Thalia Selz. Works originally published in ''StoryQuarterly'' hav ...
'')
* "The Third and Final Continent"
''
Unaccustomed Earth
''Unaccustomed Earth'' is a collection of short stories from American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It is her second collection of stories, following '' Interpreter of Maladies'' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). As with much of Lahiri's work, ...
'' (2008)
* "Unaccustomed Earth"
* "Hell-Heaven" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "A Choice of Accommodations"
* "Only Goodness"
* "Nobody's Business" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "Once In A Lifetime" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "Year's End" (previously published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'')
* "Going Ashore"
* "Hema and Kaushik"
Stories
*
* Lahiri, Jhumpa (January-29-2018)
"The Boundary" . ''The New Yorker.''
* Lahiri, Jhumpa (February-8-2021)
"Casting Shadows" . ''The New Yorker.''
Poetry
* ''Il quaderno di Nerina'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
) (2020)
Nonfiction
Books
* ''In altre parole'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
) (2015) (English translation published as ''In Other Words'', 2016)
* ''Il vestito dei libri'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
) (English translation published as ''The Clothing of Books'', 2016)
* ''Translating Myself and Others'' (2022)
Essays, reporting and other contributions
* ''
The Magic Barrel: Stories'' (introduction) by
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...
,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
, July 2003.
"Cooking Lessons: The Long Way Home"(September 6, 2004, ''The New Yorker'')
* ''
Malgudi Days'' (introduction) by
R.K. Narayan,
Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...
, August 2006.
* "Rhode Island" in ''
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America'' edited by Matt Weiland and
Sean Wilsey
Sean Patrick Wilsey (born May 21, 1970) is the author of the memoir '' Oh the Glory of It All'', published by Penguin in 2005.
Born and raised in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and Co ...
,
Ecco
Ecco or ECCO may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Ecco the Dolphin'' (series), a series of action-adventure science fiction video games
** ''Ecco the Dolphin'', a 1992 video game
* Ecco (''Gotham''), a TV series character
Organizations
...
, September 16, 2008
"Improvisations: Rice"(November 23, 2009, ''The New Yorker'')
"Reflections: Notes from a Literary Apprenticeship"(June 13, 2011, ''The New Yorker'')
* ''The Suspension of Time: Reflections on
Simon Dinnerstein and The Fulbright Triptych'' edited by Daniel Slager,
Milkweed Editions
Milkweed Editions is an independent nonprofit literary publisher that originated from the ''Milkweed Chronicle'' literary and arts journal established in Minneapolis in 1979. The journal ceased and the business transitioned to publishing. It relea ...
, June 14, 2011.
*
[Title in the online table of contents is "In translation".]
Translations
* ''Ties'' (2017), translation from Italian of
Domenico Starnone
Domenico Starnone (born 15 February 1943) is an Italian writer, screenwriter and journalist.
Born in Saviano, near Naples, he has worked for several newspapers and satirical magazines, including ''L'Unità'', '' Il Manifesto'', ''Tango'', and '' ...
's ''Lacci''
* ''Trick'' (2018), translation from Italian of Domenico Starnone's ''Scherzetto''
* ''Trust'' (2021), translation from Italian of Domenico Starnone's ''Confidenza''
See also
*
Lists of American writers
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of Indian writers
This is a list of notable writers who come from India or have Indian nationality. Names are sorted according to surname.
A
B
C
D
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
...
Jhumpa Lahiri - Critical Biography
References
Further reading
*
* Cussen, John. “the william morris in jhumpa lahiri’s wallpaper / and other of the writer’s reproofs to literary scholarship,” ''JEAL: Journal of Ethnic American Literature'' 2 (2012): 5-72.
* Das, Subrata Kumar. "Bengali Diasporic Culture: A Study of the Film Adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake". ''
The Criterion: An International Journal in English'' (ISSN 0976-8165) 4 (II), April 2013: np.
*
* Majithia, Sheetal (Fall/Winter 2001).
Of Foreigners and Fetishes: A Reading of Recent South Asian American Fiction. ''Samar'' 14: 52–53 The South Asian American Generation.
* Mitra, Zinia. "Echoes of Loneliness: Dislocation and Human Relationships in Jhumpa Lahiri",'' Contemporary Indian Women Writers in English: Critical Perspectives. ''Ed. Nizara Hazarika, K.M. Johnson and Gunjan Dey.Pencraft International.(), 2015.
* Mitra, Zinia . " An Interpretation of ''Interpreter of Maladies''", ''Jhumpa Lahiri : Critical Perspectives.'' Ed. Nigamananda Das. Pencraft International, 2008.() pp 95–104.
*
Reichardt, Dagmar. "Migrazione, discorsi minoritari, transculturalità: il caso di Jhumpa Lahiri", in:
Scrivere tra le lingue. Migrazione, bilinguismo, plurilinguismo e poetiche della frontiera nell'Italia contemporanea (1980-2015)', edited by Daniele Comberiati and Flaviano Pisanelli, Rome, Aracne, 2017 (), pp. 77–92.
*
Reichardt, Dagmar. "Nomadische Literatur und Transcultural Switching: Jhumpa Lahiris italophones Migrationstagebuch 'In altre parole' (2015) – 'In Other Words' (2016) - 'Mit anderen Worten' (2017)", in: Eva-Tabea Meineke / Anne-Rose Mayer / Stephanie Neu-Wendel / Eugenio Spediacato (ed.), ''Aufgeschlossene Beziehungen: Italien und Deutschland im transkulturellen Dialog. Literatur, Film, Medien'', "Rezeptionskulturen in Literatur- und Mediengeschichte" vol. 9 – 2019,
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
: Königshausen & Neumann, 2019 (), pp. 243–266.
*
Reichardt, Dagmar.
''Radicata a Roma'': la svolta transculturale nella scrittura italofona nomade di Jhumpa Lahiri, in: ''
l pensiero letterario come fondamento di una testa ben fatta', edited by Marina Geat, Rome, Roma TRE Press, 2017 (), pp. 219–247
«Radicata a Roma»: la svolta transculturale nella scrittura italofona nomade di Jhumpa Lahiri , Reichardt , Il pensiero letterario come fondamento di una testa ben fatta* Roy, Pinaki. "''Postmodern Diasporic Sensibility'': Rereading Jhumpa Lahiri's Oeuvre". ''Indian English Fiction: Postmodern Literary Sensibility''. Ed. Bite, V.
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 House ...
: Authors Press, 2012 (). pp. 90–109.
* Roy, Pinaki. "Reading ''The Lowland'': Its Highs and its Lows". ''Labyrinth'' (ISSN 0976-0814) 5(3), July 2014: 153–62.
* Palmerino, Gregory, “The Immigrant and the Child at Home: Chiasmus as a Narrative Technique in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Mrs. Sen’s””, Journal of the Short Story in English
nline 75 , Autumn 2020, Online since 01 December 2022. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jsse/3394
External links
*
Jhumpa Lahiri: A Bibliography ''First Editions''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahiri, Jhumpa
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