Mridula Garg
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Mridula Garg (born 1938) is an Indian writer who writes in
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and English languages. She has published over 30 books in Hindi – novels, short story collections, plays and collections of essays – including several translated into English. She is a recipient of the
Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
.


Biography

Garg was raised in Delhi by her parents with six sisters, and began writing stories while she was a child. She completed her Masters in Economics in 1960 and taught economics in University of Delhi for three years. She published her debut novel, ''Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop'', in 1975. She was arrested for obscenity after her novel ''Chittacobra'' was published in 1979, in a case that extended for two years but did not result in prison. Several of her works have feminist themes, and she told ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' in 2010, "My writing is not feminist. One of the metaphors of womanhood is guilt, be it in sexual matters, in working woman or non-working. My women felt no guilt ever. It ruffled feathers. We have the cerebral part and the womb, which encompasses and empowers you but at the same time also tightens you. My kind of feminism is that each woman can be different." She has been a columnist, writing on environment, women issues, child servitude and literature. She wrote a fortnightly column, Parivar in Ravivar magazine from Kolkata for five years between 1985-1990 and another column ''Kataksh'' (Satire) in ''
India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...
'' (Hindi) for 7 years, between 2003 and 2010. Her novels and stories have been translated into a number of Indian and foreign languages like German,
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...
, Japanese and English. She was a research associate at the Center for South Asian Studies in the
University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, USA in April 1990. She has been invited to speak on Hindi literature and criticism, and discrimination against women, at universities and conferences in erstwhile
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
(1988), the
USA 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
(1990 and 1991), and was a delegate to Interlit-3,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(1993). She was invited to and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
(2003), Italy (2011),
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(2012). She traveled widely and lectured and read from her works there.


Bibliography


Hindi

* Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop (Novel, 1975) * Kitni Qaiden (Short Stories, 1975) * Vanshaj (Novel, 1976) * Tukra-Tukra Aadmi (Short Stories, 1976) * Daffodil Jal Rahein Hain (Short Stories, 1978) * Ek Aur Ajnabi (Play, 1978) * Chittacobra (Novel, 1979) * Anitya (Novel, 1980) * Main Aur Main (Novel, 1984) * Glacier Se (Short Stories, 1980) * Urf Sam (Short Stories, 1986) * Shahar Ke Naam (Short Stories, 1990) * Charchit Kahanaian (Short Stories, 1993) * Jadoo Ka Kaleen (Play, 1993) * Teen Qaiden (Plays, 1995) * Rang-Dhang (Essays, 1995) * Kath Gulab (Novel, 1996) * Samagam (Short Stories, 1996) * Kuchh Atke Kuchh Bhatke (Yatra Samsaran, Essays, 1996) * Chukte Nahin Sawaal (Essays, 1999) * Kar Lenge Sab Hazam (Satirical Essays) * Mere Desh Ki Mitti, Aha (Short Stories, 2001) * Saam Daam Dand Bhed (Play for children, 2003) * Sangati-Visangti (in 2 Vol.) (Short Stories, 2004) * Joote ka Jodh Gobhi ka Todh (Short Stories, 2006) * Kriti Men Stree patr (critical essays, 2010) * Miljul Mann (Novel 2010) * Kriti Aur Kritikar (Essays, 2013) * Mere Sang ki Aurten (Short story, 2013) * Vasu ka Kutum (Long story 2016)


English

* A Touch of Sun (Novel, translated from Hindi, Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop, 1978) * Daffodils on Fire (Short Stories, 1990) * Chittacobra (Novel, translated from Hindi, Chittacobra, 1999) * Country of Goodbyes (Novel, translated from Hindi, Kathgulab, 2003) * Anitya Halfway to Nowhere (novel, translated from Hindi, Anitya 2010) * The Last Email (novel originally in English, 2017)


Translations

*"Kathgulab" translated into
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...
(2008) and
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
(2010) *"Anitya" translated into Marathi from Anitya(Hindi) 2014 *"Main Aur Main" translated into Marathi (2016) from Hindi. *"Miljul Mann" translated into
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
(2017), Tamil (2018), Telugu (2018) and Rajasthani (2018) from Hindi language. *"Chittacobra" translated into Russian (2014). Sovpadeniye Publishing House. Moscow. Translated by Guzel Strelkova and Marina Parusova.


Awards

* Sahityakar Sanman, by the Hindi Academy, Delhi, (1988) * Sahitya Bhushan, by the U.P. Hindi Sansthan (1999) * Hellman-Hammet Grant for Courageous Writing by the Human Rights Watch, New York (2001) * Honored for lifetime contribution to literature in the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan in Suriname in 2003. * Vyas Sanman, for an outstanding work of fiction in Hindi for Kathgulab (2004) * Uske Hisse ki Dhoop (novel) and Jadoo Ka Kaleen (Play) awarded by the M.P. Sahitya Parishad in 1975 and 1993 respectively. * Miljul Mann (novel) awarded the
Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
in 2013 * Mira Smriti Samman award for distinguished contribution to contemporary Hindi literature (2016) * Ram Manohar Lohia Samman from U.P Hindi Sansthan (2016) *
D. Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
"Honoris Causa" from
ITM University, Gwalior ITM University is a multidisciplinary private university based in Gwalior, India. The subjects are offered in the field of sciences, engineering, management, fine arts, social sciences, arts, and nursing. It was established under the Act of ...
(2016)


See also

*
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 ...


References


External links


Read Part of Miljul Man on ''Shabdankan''

Mridula Garg Interview
(Susham Bedi, University of Texas at Austin) {{DEFAULTSORT:Garg, Mridula 1938 births 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers Hindi-language writers English-language writers from India University of California, Berkeley faculty Living people Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian essayists Indian women children's writers Indian children's writers Writers from Kolkata Women writers from West Bengal Novelists from West Bengal Dramatists and playwrights from West Bengal Poets from West Bengal