Samrat Upadhyay ( ne, सम्राट उपाध्याय)(born 1964) is a

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

ese born American writer who writes in English. Upadhyay is a professor of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and has previously served as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

. He is the first Nepali-born fiction writer writing in English to be published in the West.Indiana University Graduate Creative Writing Program – Samrat Upadhyay
/ref> He was born and raised in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, and came to the United States in 1984 at the age of twenty-one. He lives with his wife and daughter in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

. In 2001, Upadhyay won a Whiting Award for fiction. He was an English professor at

Baldwin-Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace Co ...

Berea, Ohio Berea ( ) is a city in Cuyahoga County in the U.S. state of Ohio and is a western suburb of Cleveland. The population was 19,093 at the 2010 census. Berea is home to Baldwin Wallace University, as well as the training facility for the Cleveland ...

before moving to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

in 2003. His books specially portray the current situation in

, which Upadhyay views largely through the lens of contemporary American

realist fiction Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with ...

. According to the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', Upadhyay is "like a Buddhist

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

."Like a Buddhist Chekhov / Nepali writer's stories of life and love speak to common truths
/ref>

Selected texts

''Arresting God in Kathmandu'' (2001)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2001, ''Arresting God in Kathmandu'' is Upadhyay's first book. It is a collection of nine short stories. With ''Arresting God in Kathmandu'' Upadhyay won a Whiting Award.

Short stories

# The Good Shopkeeper # The Cooking Poet # Deepak Misra's Secretary # The Limping Bride # During the Festival # The Room Next Door # The Man with Long Hair # This World # A Great Man's House

''The Guru of Love'' (2003)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2003, ''The Guru of Love'' is Upadhyay's second book and first full-length novel. ''The Guru of Love'' was a

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 d ...

Notable Book of the Year 2003. It is not the basis for the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...

film ''

The Love Guru ''The Love Guru'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Marco Schnabel in his directorial debut, written and produced by Mike Myers, and starring Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, ...

''.

''The Royal Ghosts'' (2006)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2006, ''The Royal Ghosts'' is Upadhyay's third book, a collection of nine short stories.

Short stories

# A Refuge # The Wedding Hero # The Third Stage # Supreme Pronouncements # The Weight of a Gun # Chintamani's Women # Father, Daughter # A Servant in the City # The Royal Ghosts

''Buddha's Orphans'' (2010)

Published by Houghton Mifflin in 2010, ''Buddha's Orphans'' is Upadhyay's fourth book and second novel. Using Nepal's political upheavals of the past century as a backdrop, it tells the story of an orphan boy, Raja, and the girl he is fated to love, Nilu, a daughter of privilege. Their love story scandalizes both families and takes readers through time and across the globe, through the loss of and search for children, and through several generations, hinting that perhaps old bends can, in fact, be righted in future branches of a family tree.

Awards

Publications

* ''Arresting God in Kathmandu'' (2001) * ''The Guru of Love'' (2004) * ''The Royal Ghosts'' (2006) * ''Buddha's Orphans'' (2010) * ''The City Son'' (2014) * ''Mad Country'' (2017)

References

External links

Official websiteProfile at The Whiting Foundation
*A Review o
''Buddha's Orphans''
a
''Sycamore Review''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upadhyay, Samrat Nepalese male novelists Nepalese male short story writers Nepalese short story writers 1964 births American Hindus Living people Nepalese emigrants to the United States People from Kathmandu Indiana University faculty Baldwin Wallace University faculty English-language writers from Nepal