Manil Suri (born July 1959) is an Indian-American mathematician and writer of a trilogy of novels all named for Hindu gods. His first novel, ''
The Death of Vishnu'' (2001), which was long-listed for the 2001
Booker Prize, short-listed for the 2002
PEN/Faulkner Award
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...
and won the
Barnes & Noble Discover Prize that year. Since then, he has published two more novels, ''The Age of Shiva'' (2008) and ''The City of Devi'' (2013), completing the trilogy.
Biography
Suri was born in Bombay, the son of R.L. Suri, a
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
music director, and Prem Suri, a schoolteacher. He attended the
University of Bombay
The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai.
The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...
before moving to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, where he attended
Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1983, and became a mathematics professor at
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
. Suri began writing short stories in the 1980s during his spare time, but none were published. In 1995 he began writing ''The Death of Vishnu'', a novel about social and religious tensions in India taking place in an apartment building in contemporary Mumbai. An excerpt, "The Seven Circles", appeared 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 ...
'' and the novel was published in 2001, becoming an international bestseller. Suri received a six-figure advance as a result of a bidding war between publishing houses, ultimately won by
W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...
. In 2002, Suri won the
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for ''The Death of Vishnu''. His second novel, ''The Age of Shiva'' (2008), was listed as one of the best books of the decade by About.com. His third novel, ''The City of Devi'' (2013), was ranked number 12 in the ''50 essential works of LGBT fiction'' list by Flavorwire.
Suri was planning to write a
trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
of novels with titles featuring the three
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
gods
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
,
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
and
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
. The second book in the trilogy, ''The Age of Shiva'', was published in 2008, with ''The Birth of Brahma'' slated as the third. This third novel ended up being based on Devi (the Mother Goddess) instead, with the title ''The City of Devi.''
[.]
In December 2013, Suri won the "Bad Sex in Fiction" prize for the climactic sex scene in ''The City of Devi''. However, a reviewer in the ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' praised the sex writing in the book,
as did a reviewer in ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', who also commented that Suri "admirably" handles the strands of "sex, mythology and global politics".
Suri has written an essay about growing up gay in India in the journal
Granta
''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
and has published op-eds about gay issues in 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 ...
and 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 na ...
.
Court Ruling Ignores India's Rich History of Diversity
/ref>
Books
* '' The Death of Vishnu: A Novel'' (W. W. Norton, 2001)
* ''The Age of Shiva: A Novel'' (W. W. Norton, 2008)
* ''The City of Devi: A Novel'' (W. W. Norton, 2013)
* ''The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math'': (W.W. Norton, 2022)
Further reading
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Notes
External links
ManilSuri.com
Academic website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suri, Manil
1959 births
Living people
Indian emigrants to the United States
Carnegie Mellon University alumni
University of Maryland, Baltimore County faculty
American male novelists
American male writers of Indian descent
University of Mumbai alumni
21st-century American novelists
American LGBT novelists
Indian LGBT writers
Indian LGBT rights activists
American LGBT rights activists
American gay writers
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
Novelists from Maryland
21st-century American male writers
LGBT mathematicians
Writers from Mumbai