Samrat Upadhyay

Samrat Upadhyay is a Nepalese writer who writes in English. On the page devoted to him at Indiana University, where Upadhyay is a professor of creative writing, he is referred to as "the first Nepali-born fiction writer writing in English to be published in the West." [http://www.indiana.edu/~mfawrite/upadhyay.html Indiana University Graduate Creative Writing Program - Samrat Upadhyay ] ] He was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, and came to the United States at the age of twenty-one. He lives with his wife and daughter in Bloomington, Indiana (United States).

His books specially portray the current situation in Nepal, which Upadhyay views largely though the lens of contemporary American realist fiction. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Upadhyay is "like a Buddhist Chekhov." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/08/26/RV200183.DTL Like a Buddhist Chekhov / Nepali writer's stories of life and love speak to common truths ] ]

Bibliography

Arresting God in Kathmandu (2001)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2001, "Arresting God in Kathmandu" is Upadhyay's first book. It is a collection of nine short stories. With "Arresting God in Kathmandu" Upadhyay won the Whiting Writers' Award.

The stories
1. The Good Shopkeeper
2. The Cooking Poet
3. Deepak Misra's Secretary
4. The Limping Bride
5. During the Festival
6. The Room Next Door
7. The Man with Long Hair
8. This World
9. A Great Man's House

The Guru of Love (2003)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2003, "The Guru of Love" is Upadhyay's second book and first full-length novel. "The Guru of Love" was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2003.

It is reportedly not the basis for the 2008 Mike Myers film The Love Guru.

The Royal Ghosts (2006)

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2006, "The Royal Ghosts" is Upadhyay's third book, a collection of nine short stories.

The stories
1. A Refugee
2. The Wedding Hero
3. The Third Stage
4. Supreme Pronouncements
5. The Weight of a Gun
6. Chintamani's Women
7. Father, Daughter
8. A Servant in the City
9. The Royal Ghosts

References