Anita Desai, born Anita Mazumdar (born 24 June 1937) is an Indian
novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1][2] As a writer she has
been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times.[2] She received a
Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain, from
the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[3] She won
the British Guardian Prize for The Village by the Sea.[4]Desai was
born in 1937 in Mussoorie, India, to a German immigrant mother, Toni
Nime, and a Bengali businessman, D. N. Mazumdar.[5][1] Her Bengali
father first met her German mother while he was an engineering student
in pre-war Berlin; and they got married during a period when it was
still unusual for an Indian man to marry a European woman. Shortly
after their marriage, they moved to New Delhi, where Desai was raised
up with her two elder sisters and brother.[citation needed]She grew up
speaking Hindi with her neighbours, and only German at her home. She
also spoke Bengali, Urdu and English out of her house. She first
learned to read and write in English at school and as a result,
English became her "literary language". She began to write in English
at the age of seven and published her first story at the age of
nine.[5]
novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1][2] As a writer she has
been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times.[2] She received a
Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain, from
the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[3] She won
the British Guardian Prize for The Village by the Sea.[4]Desai was
born in 1937 in Mussoorie, India, to a German immigrant mother, Toni
Nime, and a Bengali businessman, D. N. Mazumdar.[5][1] Her Bengali
father first met her German mother while he was an engineering student
in pre-war Berlin; and they got married during a period when it was
still unusual for an Indian man to marry a European woman. Shortly
after their marriage, they moved to New Delhi, where Desai was raised
up with her two elder sisters and brother.[citation needed]She grew up
speaking Hindi with her neighbours, and only German at her home. She
also spoke Bengali, Urdu and English out of her house. She first
learned to read and write in English at school and as a result,
English became her "literary language". She began to write in English
at the age of seven and published her first story at the age of
nine.[5]
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