Anjum Hasan is an Indian novelist, short story writer, poet, and editor. She graduated in philosophy from

North-Eastern Hill University North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) is a Central University established on 19 July 1973 by an Act of the Indian Parliament. The university is in the suburb of Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, India. The university has two campuses: S ...

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

. She currently lives in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Career

Anjum Hasan's first book was a collection of poems ''Street on the Hill'', published by Sahitya Akademi in 2006. Her debut novel ''Lunatic in my Head'' (Zubaan-Penguin, 2007) was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award 2007. Set in

in the early 1990s, it weaves together the stories of its three main characters, and has been described by Siddhartha Deb as 'haunting and lyrical'. Her second novel titled ''Neti, Neti'' (

Roli Books Roli Books is an Indian publishing house that produces books pertaining to Indian heritage. It was founded in 1978 by Pramod Kapoor and is jointly run along with his family. Its imprints include Lustre Press for illustrated books, India Ink ...

, 2009) was longlisted for the 2008

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 ...

and shortlisted for The Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010. It told the story of 25-year old Sophie Das, a dreamy character from Shillong, looking for fulfilment in Bangalore. The novel was described as painting "an empathetic portrait of the unusually liberated—and unexpectedly lost—middle-class youth of the brave new India." Her short-story collection, ''Difficult Pleasures'' (Penguin/Viking 2012), was shortlisted for

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 Crossword Book Award. ''Lunatic in my Head'', ''Neti, Neti'' (as ''Big Girl Now'') and ''Difficult Pleasures'' have all appeared in Australia from Brass Monkey Books. Her third novel ''The Cosmopolitans'' was published by Penguin Books India in 2015 and Brio Books Australia in 2016. It was described as “that rare thing: a novel of ideas” In 2018 she published the short story collection ''A Day in the Life''. It won the Valley of Words award 2019. In 2022, Hasan's latest novel, ''History's Angel'', was acquired by Bloomsbury India for publication.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasan, Anjum Living people Novelists from Meghalaya English-language poets from India Poets from Meghalaya 21st-century Indian journalists 21st-century Indian short story writers Indian women novelists Indian women editors Indian editors Indian women short story writers 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian women writers Women writers from Meghalaya North-Eastern Hill University alumni 1972 births People associated with Shillong

Career

See also

References