Anita Desai

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Anita Desai: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

New novels from Emma Knight and Anita Desai explore the dual identities of mothers • Jan. 24, 2025, 8:07 AM ET (NPR)

Facts

Also Known As	Anita Mazumdar
Born	June 24, 1937 (age 87) • Mussoorie • India
Awards And Honors	Booker Prize (2006)
Notable Works	“Baumgartner’s Bombay” • “Clear Light of Day” • “Cry, the Peacock” • “Fasting, Feasting” • “Fire on the Mountain” • “The Artist of Disappearance” • “The Inheritance of Loss” • “The Zigzag Way” • “Where Shall We Go This Summer?”
Notable Family Members	daughter Kiran Desai

Salman Rushdie, 2008

Salman Rushdie

British-American writer

Penelope Lively

British author

R.K. Narayan

R.K. Narayan

Indian author

Mulk Raj Anand

Mulk Raj Anand

Indian author

Nayantara Sahgal

Indian journalist and author

Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy

Indian author and activist

V.S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul

Trinidadian-British writer

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

British author

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

British writer

The man who invented Middle-earth

J.R.R. Tolkien

English author

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl

British author

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Nigerian author

John Boyne

John Boyne

Irish author

Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain

British author

A.A. Milne

A.A. Milne

British author

Rumer Godden

British writer

Joan Aiken.

Joan Aiken

British author

Ama Ata Aidoo

Ghanaian writer

Cyprian Ekwensi

Nigerian author

Walter Allen

British writer

Quiz

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Classic Children’s Books Quiz