Megha Majumdar
Majumdar at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.
Majumdar at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.
Born1987 or 1988 (age 35–36)[1]
Kolkata, India
OccupationWriter, editor
Alma materHarvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Notable worksA Burning
Notable awardsYuva Puraskar 2021
Whiting Award 2022
Website
meghamajumdar.com

Megha Majumdar (born 1987/1988) is an Indian novelist who lives in New York City. Her debut novel, A Burning, was a New York Times best seller, won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar award in 2021 and a Whiting Award in 2022.

Early life

Majumdar was born in Kolkata, India.[1][2] In 2006, she moved to the United States to study social anthropology at Harvard University.[1][2] She went on to complete her graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, earning a master's degree in anthropology.[2]

Career

Majumdar's debut novel, A Burning, was released in 2020[3] and became a New York Times best seller.[4] Ron Charles of The Washington Post wrote Majumdar "demonstrates an uncanny ability to capture the vast scope of a tumultuous society by attending to the hopes and fears of people living on the margins. The effect is transporting, often thrilling, finally harrowing. It’s no wonder this propulsive novel was chosen for the Today Show book club and leaped immediately onto the bestseller list."[5] In TIME, Naina Bajekal described the novel as "a powerful corrective to the political narratives that have dominated in contemporary India."[6]

In 2020, Majumdar told The Wall Street Journal, "I hope the questions [I ask in the book] don’t appear contained in India and...that readers here are able to think of contemporary America too."[7] Majumdar's writing style has been compared to that of Jhumpa Lahiri and Yaa Gyasi.[8][9]

At the time of her novel's publication, Majumdar worked as an editor at Catapult Books in New York City.[2] In 2021, Majumdar was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of Catapult,[10] and her authors included Matthew Salesses, Randa Jarrar, Ruby Hamad, Sindya Bhanoo and Ye Chun.[11] In May 2022, she left the position to focus on her writing and teaching.[12]

Honors and awards

A Burning was shortlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction,[13] won a Yuva Puraskar award from the Sahitya Akademi in 2021,[14] and in April 2022 Majumdar won a Whiting Award.[15]

Bibliography

  • A Burning, New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2020. ISBN 9780525658696

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A Burning, the breakaway novel that everyone is talking about and its Indian-origin author". The Indian Express. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "4 Writers to Watch This Summer". The New York Times. 13 May 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Delistraty, Cody (24 March 2020). "The Nine Best New Books to Read This Spring". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "Hardcover Fiction Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. 21 June 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Charles, Ron. "Review: Megha Majumdar's 'A Burning' is blazing up the bestseller list and emerging as the must-read novel of the summer". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  6. ↑ Bajekal, Naina. "A Defiant New Take on Contemporary India". time.com. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  7. ↑ Khan, Saira (5 June 2020). "A Stunning Debut Novel Turns India's Prosperity Myth Upside Down". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  8. ↑ Ghoshal, Somak (3 January 2020). "Read, resist and relearn from new books in the new year". Livemint. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Worth a read this month". The Daily Star. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "Megha Majumdar Leads Catapult as Editor in Chief, Rachel Syme on Deadlines, and More". Poets & Writers. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  11. ↑ "Sindya Bhanoo | The Odyssey Bookshop". www.odysseybks.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  12. ↑ Chung, Nicole (13 June 2022). "Megha Majumdar on What Debut Authors Need to Know". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Giggs shortlisted for ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal". Books+Publishing. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Sahitya Akademi announces winners of Yuva Puraskar, Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021". The Indian Express. Press Trust of India. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  15. ↑ "Novelist Megha Majumdar among winners of Whiting Award". NBC News. Associated Press. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
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