6 Indian Women Authors You Must Read

Producer: Mehak Pal Editor: Aparna Singh

From Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni to Arundhati Roy, here's a look at some Indian women authors you must read.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

No. 1

Born in Kolkata, Divakaruni is an Indian-American author, poet, and the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Her works are largely set in India and the United States, and often focus on the experiences of South Asian immigrants. 

Arundhati Roy

No. 2

Born in Shillong, Meghalaya, Roy is also a political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes. Among her publications were Power Politics, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, War Talk, Public Power in the Age of Empire, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, Broken Republic: Three Essays, and Capitalism: A Ghost Story.

Anita Desai

No. 3

Anita is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a writer, she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times.

Ismat Chughtai

No. 4

Chughtai was an Indian Urdu language writer. She wrote on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-class gentility, and class conflict, often from a Marxist perspective. She garnered widespread attention for her short story Lihaaf (The Quilt), which appeared in a 1942 issue of Adab-i-Latif, a Lahore-based literary journal.

Mahasweta Devi

No. 5

An Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist, Mahasweta Devi is known for her literary works including Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. Devi was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award (in Bengali), Jnanpith Award, and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

Kiran Desai

No. 6

Kiran is an Indian author and is the daughter of famous author Anita Desai. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.