- Kiran Nagarkar
Kiran Nagarkar is one of the most significant writers of postcolonial India. He is an anomaly among Indian writers in that he has written acclaimed novels in more than one language. His first novel, Saat Sakkam Trechalis (translated into English as Seven Sixes are Forty Three,) was a critical sensation when it was published in 1974, quickly becoming recognized as one of the most important novels written in Marathi.
His next novel, Ravan and Eddie, begun in Marathi but completed in English, was not published till 1994.
His third novel, Cuckold (1997) won the Sahitya Akademi award. It has been translated into a number of languages and has become one of the most beloved contemporary Indian novels, both in India and in Europe. All his novels since Ravan and Eddie have been written in English.
He completed God's Little Soldier in 2006. The book has received mixed reviews.
Nagarkar came from a very lower middle-class family. But because his parents belonged to a branch of the Brahmos--which in Maharashtra was called the Prarthna Samaj-- you could say he came from a very hybrid kind of background. His grandfather in 1893, or thereabouts, had been to the Chicago world conference of religions, and then again in 1903--so while he is very much a Hindu, his is a Westward looking Hindus.
The first 4 years of his education were in a Marathi school. And then because he moved around a lot there was a change in the medium of instruction to English. He attended college at Ferguson College in Pune and at SIES College in Mumbai.
External links
* [http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/nagarkar.html]
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* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Kiran%20Nagarkar&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/103-6332183-5472645 Kiran Nagarkar on Amazon.com]
*Interview [http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2006/04/killing-sacred-cows-kiran-nagarkar-and.html]
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