R. K. Narayan

R. K. Narayan is an Indian author. He was born on 10th October 1906 in Chennai where he died on 13th May 2001. He was one of the leading Indian English story writers. Narayan was the son of a headmaster and the elder brother of studio editor Ramachandran and cartoonist Laxman. He was raised by his grandmother Parvati. He married Rajam with whom he had a daughter named Hema.

He attended school at the Lutheran Mission School, CRC High School and the Christian College High School. He graduated from the Maharaja College of Mysore. He worked as a school teacher for a brief period before leaving and focusing on his writing career. Narayan’s first published work was a book review on the Development Of The Maritime Laws of The 17th Century England.

He wrote articles for many English newspapers and magazines. He wrote his first novel Swaminathan And Tate in 1930 based on his childhood experience but was rejected by several publishers before the British publisher Graham Greene Graham Greene was born on 2nd of October, in the y >> Read More... published it under the title Swami And Friends. His second novel The Bachelor Of Arts was published 1938, which was based on his college days. Both the books were based in the fictional town of Malgudi. His third book called the Dark Room, published in 1938, depicted domestic violence against women. In 1939, Narayan was devastated when his wife died of Typhoid but soon found the courage to write The English Teacher Click to look into! >> Read More... in 1945 based on his and Rajam’s married life. This book was also based in Malgudi and creating what became known as the Malgudi series.

Before this, Narayan published a collection of his short stories under the title Malgudi Days Click to look into! >> Read More... in 1942. During the World War II World War II is a Malayalam information TV show on >> Read More... , Narayan started his own publication called the Indian Thought Publications which was named after his first journal the Indian Thought which only ran for a year till 1941. However, his publication house still runs at present, managed by his granddaughter. Narayan shifted his writing style from his semi-autobiographical works like the Malgudi series to more creative and fictional tones. Such works included Mr. Sampath in 1949, The Financial Expert in 1952 and Waiting For Mahatama among several others.

Narayan received several awards and accolades including the Sahithya Akademi Award in 1958 for the Guide, Filmfare Award for the Best Story for the 1965 film Guide, the Padma Bhushan on the 1964 Indian Republic Day, AC Benson Medal in 1980. He was an honorary member of the British Royal Society of Literature and the American Academy for Arts and Letters.