Manu Joseph (born 22 July 1974) is an Indian journalist and writer. He is the former editor of ''

Open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

'' magazine.

Life and career

Manu was born in

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south- ...

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 ...

, and grew up 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 ...

. His father Joseph Madapally is a film maker who directed the Malayalam film Thoranam. He is a graduate of

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auto ...

, and dropped out of Madras Christian College to become a staff writer at ''Society'' magazine. He is a former editor of ''

OPEN Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

'' magazine, and a columnist for ''

The International New York Times ''The New York Times International Edition'' is an English-language daily newspaper distributed internationally by the New York Times Company. It has been published in two separate periods, one from 1943 to 1967 and one from 2013 to the prese ...

'' and The Hindustan Times. In 2007, he was a

Chevening Scholar The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarshi ...

. He currently lives in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. His debut novel ''

Serious Men ''Serious Men'' is a 2010 drama fiction novel written by journalist Manu Joseph. The story follows Ayyan Mani, a middle-aged Dalit working as an assistant to a Brahmin astronomer at the Institute of Theory and Research in Mumbai. He lives in ...

'' (2010) won

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 ...

and the

PEN/Open Book Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

. It has been adapted by

Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', ''Dharavi (film), Dharavi'' and ''Chameli (film), Chameli''. Mishra has had a 30-year career, with his ...

as a feature film. His second novel, '' The Illicit Happiness of Other People'', was published in September 2012. He also wrote the screenplay for the film '' Love Khichdi'' (2009). In January 2014, Manu resigned as editor of ''Open'' magazine. Manu is the creator and writer of Decoupled, an Indian English-language

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

web series, which was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on 17th December, 2021.

Awards and honours

*2010:

won for ''

''Benedicte Page
"Manu Joseph's controversial tale of caste wins Indian literary prize"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2 November 2010. *2010:

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writer ...

shortlisted for ''Serious Men'' *2010: ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''′s 10 best books of the year for ''Serious Men'' *2011:

Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the United Kingdom's first literary award for comic literature. Established in 2000 and named in honour of P. G. Wodehouse, past winners include Paul Torday in 2007 with ''Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'' an ...

shortlisted for ''Serious Men'' *2011:

PEN Open Book Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

won for ''Serious Men'' *2013:

shortlisted for ''The Illicit Happiness of Other People''

Works

* ''

''.

HarperCollins India 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 Co ...

, 2010. . * '' The Illicit Happiness of Other People''. Fourth Estate, 2012. . *''Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous'',

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including me ...

, 2017. .

References

External links

* *
"Can you take it Manu Joseph?"
newslaundry.com, 19 July 2012.

18 September 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Manu 1974 births Journalists from Kerala Writers from Kottayam Living people Loyola College, Chennai alumni Indian male journalists Indian male screenwriters Novelists from Kerala Indian male novelists