Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni author photo

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Nascido: July 29, 1956 – Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an Indian American novelist, poet, and short-story writer whose work explores immigration, South Asian identity, mythology, and women’s lives. She is best known for Arranged Marriage, which won an American Book Award, and novels including The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, and The Palace of Illusions.

Biografia e Jornada do Autor

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was born in Kolkata in 1956 and moved to the United States at nineteen to pursue graduate study, first earning a master’s degree at Wright State University and then a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985. Those early American years, sustained by odd jobs and sharpened by homesickness, became a defining turning point. In later reflections, she has linked immigration to her emergence as a writer: distance from India clarified what she loved, what she questioned, and what she most wanted to preserve in language. Out of that dislocation came the enduring concerns of her work—women’s lives, migration, memory, myth, and the emotional traffic between India and America. ((https://haaa.rice.edu/interviews/Chitra-Divakaruni))

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Citações

quote
My mother was the most important woman in my life
-Heritage Lessons Learned in Our Mothers' Kitchens
quote
I am a Mistress of Spices
-Mistress of Spices
quote
If the child is especially lucky, in the morning it will all be gone
-Sister of My Heart
quote
When the first rumble came, no one in the Visa Office, down in the basement of the Indian Consulate, thought anything of it
-One Amazing Thing
quote
I was fascinated by Krishna because I couldn’t decipher him
-The Palace of Illusions
quote
Sometimes when I’m awake, I wonder if I’m dreaming
-Oleander Girl
quote
I dream the dreams of other people
-Queen of Dreams
quote
flowers, flowers, flowers
-Cutting the Sun
quote
There is no other color
-Indigo
quote
When you put on the mask the thunder starts
-Tiger Mask Ritual

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Vozes da Comunidade

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni turns the Ramayana around by telling it in Sita’s voice; this inversion is a gift"

Arshia Sattar

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni discovers new nuances in the biraha that creeps into the lives of migrants"

Amitav Ghosh

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni shows herself to be a skilled cartographer of the heart"

People

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Sita is an epitome of courage and self-respect, showing a path for all women"

Volga

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Oleander Girl is a showcase for the author’s signature, beautifully crafted prose"

India Currents

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a gifted storyteller who makes us feel at home"

Los Angeles Times

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni cycles through generations of time until we come to know our ancestresses—and the goddess"

Maxine Hong Kingston

"Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a brilliant storyteller; she illuminates the world with her artistry"

Junot Díaz

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