Kiran Desai

Kiran Desai was born in Chandigarh, the capital of Haryana and Punjab on September 3, 1971. Kiran Desai is an eminent Indian writer who is famous for her book, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. Kiran Desai was born to Anita Desai Anita Desai is a Novelist and a professor of Human >> Read More... and Ashvin Desai. Her father was the manager of a software company, and her mother is a notable novelist. Anita is half German and half Indian while Ashvin belonged to Bangladesh.

Anita Desai has won several accolades including Sahitya Akademi Award and Padma Bhushan. Kiran grew up in Pune and Mumbai and migrated to England when she turned fourteen. Kiran did her schooling from Cathedral and John Cannon School situated in Mumbai. Kiran had three siblings- two brothers and one sister. Kiran stayed in England for a year and then migrated to the United States and attended Bennington College in Vermont. Kiran held the degree of MFA from two institutes- Hollins University, Roanoke and Columbia University, New York.

Kiran’s first book was Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, which got published in the year 1998. According to the readers, this book was a combination of both comic and serious elements and is a perfect blend of both literature and witty dialogues. In this book, Kiran penned down the tale of a boy, Sampath, who wants to do nothing but laze around. One day, it just struck him to sit on a guava tree, and people mistake him for being a wise and learned man.

Critics also pointed out that Kiran’s writing skills had made this novel with absurd title and characters an amazing one. In this book, she has described the Indian charms and culture very well. After a span of eight years, Kiran came up with her second novel titled, The Inheritance of Loss. The book got issued in the year 2006 which focuses on the lives of Biju and Sai and explores the theme of immigration and conflicting identities.

The themes of colonialism and post-colonialism are prevalent in this book, and there is a perfect blend of tragedy and comedy. Kiran received the Man Booker Prize for her second book but in some parts of Darjeeling, this book created hatred against Kiran.

There were protests regarding this book but apart from that everyone appreciated it. Kiran won several accolades including Betty Trask Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. Kiran also appeared as a guest on the radio program, Private Passions, in the year 2008. Michael Berkeley hosted this show, and it was broadcasted on BBC Radio 3. Kiran also received the Berlin Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany.