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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomchitra_divakaruni

born

Kolkata (Calcutta), India

gender

female

website

http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/

twitter username

chitradivakarun

genre

Literature & Fiction, Young Adult, Poetry

member since

March 2009

About this author

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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 20 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew and Japanese.

She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian bout...more Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 20 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew and Japanese.

She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread in a bakery, and washing instruments in a science lab. At Berkeley, she lived in the International House and worked in the dining hall. She briefly lived in Illinois, Ohio and Texas, but has spent most of her life in Northern California, which she often writes about.

Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.

Chitra has judged several prestigious awards, such as the National Book Award and the PEN Faulkner Award.

Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into movies by filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (an English film) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam (a Tamil TV serial) respectively.

Chitra lives in Houston with her husband Murthy, her two sons Anand and Abhay (whose names she has used in her children’s novels) and Juno, the family dog.

Chitra loves to connect with readers on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni
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46 posts
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Blog

Where the Wild Stories Are: How to Find Great Ideas for Your Writing

One of the
questions I'm asked frequently when I give talks is this: Where do you get the
ideas for your stories? Often I sense a
certain pensiveness in the questioners, as though they were thinking, if only
I, too, had access to that wondrous and magical land where stories come from!

Well, my answer to that
question may seem somewhat simplistic and pedestrian, but it's something I
really believe. St...

View more on Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's website »

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Published on May 27, 2012 09:36 • 29 views

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Books by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Average rating: 3.70 · 20,252 ratings · 2,722 reviews · 27 distinct works

	Sister of My Heart 3.94 avg rating — 5,936 ratings — published 1997 — 19 editions	My rating:
	The Mistress of Spices 3.47 avg rating — 4,074 ratings — published 1997 — 27 editions	My rating:
	The Palace of Illusions 3.91 avg rating — 2,160 ratings — published 2008 — 17 editions	My rating:
	One Amazing Thing 3.39 avg rating — 1,924 ratings — published 2010 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Arranged Marriage: Stories 3.72 avg rating — 1,537 ratings — published 1995 — 11 editions	My rating:
	The Vine Of Desire 3.43 avg rating — 1,429 ratings — published 2000 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Queen of Dreams 3.54 avg rating — 919 ratings — published 2004 — 17 editions	My rating:
	The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Stories 3.78 avg rating — 779 ratings — published 2001 — 14 editions	My rating:
	The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch, #1) 3.65 avg rating — 751 ratings — 11 editions	My rating:
	Neela: Victory Song 3.74 avg rating — 346 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions	My rating:

More books by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni…

Series by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Brotherhood of the Conch (3 books)
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Goodreads Author)

3.72 avg rating — 1,000 ratings

Upcoming Events

Chitra Divakaruni Speaks at Cal State University, Northridge, CA
Author appearance, September 06, 2012 07:00PM — 2 people invited
Cal State University, Northridge, CA, 18111 Nordhoff Street , Northridge, CA, US
http://www.csun.edu/afye/Titles-2012-2013.html

Thursday Sept 6: Speaking at Cal State University, Northridge, CA, for their One...more

Interviews

April 2009, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
"Impassioned and inventive, Nobel Prize winner Neruda is a poet who stays on your mind. His intense love poems created a bit of a scandal when Twenty Love Poems was published, but in this book he writes out of a different kind of love: love for the ordinary objects of this world, objects we so often take for granted: an artichoke, onions, soap, his own socks." ...More

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Chitra's Recent Updates

Chitra Divakaruni marked as to-read: Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru	My rating:
May 31, 2012 07:57am
Chitra Divakaruni gave to: Younger Next Year: Turn Back Your Biological Clock by Chris Crowley	My rating:
May 30, 2012 07:18am
Chitra Divakaruni made a comment on Where the Wild Stories Are: How to Find Great Ideas for Your Writing: "Thanks, Ming. Glad you like it. "
May 27, 2012 09:56pm
Chitra Divakaruni made a comment on Nostalgic Cuisine, or the Immigrant's Delight: An Indian Bitter Gourd Recipe from One Amazing Thing: "Thanks for writing in, Bo Nobo Nobo. That's a funny story about scaring your friend! Thanks for the good words on my books. Let me know how you like S...more "
May 26, 2012 05:59pm
Chitra Divakaruni marked as to-read: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart	My rating:
May 26, 2012 02:35pm
Chitra Divakaruni added Goodreads to her Facebook Timeline Add your books to Timeline! learn more
May 25, 2012 06:19am
Chitra Divakaruni gave to: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou	My rating:
I have read and taught (many times) this moving autobiography that spans Angelou's childhood in a South rife with racism, all the way up to her moving away and becoming a single mother. The simple joy of a child's experience of life, woven in with so...more
May 25, 2012 06:18am · see review
Chitra Divakaruni gave to: River of Colour the India of Raghubir Singh by Raghubir Singh	My rating:
A beautiful book, filled with sensitive and unusual portraits of India that will force you to reevaluate the country and the culture. Raghubir Singh has a unique way of seeing this complex land. He died soon after the book came out, so it contains hi...more
May 23, 2012 04:52pm · see review
Chitra Divakaruni marked as to-read: Fit from Within: 101 Simple Secrets to Change Your Body and Your Life - Starting Today and Lasting Forever by Victoria Moran	My rating:
May 23, 2012 06:15am
Chitra Divakaruni added a photo
May 22, 2012 07:12pm · like · view gallery

More of Chitra's books…

Quotes by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“that's how it is sometimes when we plunge into the depths of our lives. no one can accompany us, not even those who would give up their hearts for our happiness”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Sister of My Heart

20 people liked it

“I am buoyant and expansive and uncontainable--but I always was so, only I never knew it!”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

tags: inspirational

19 people liked it

“Because ultimately only the witness -- and not the actors -- knows the truth (Vyasa to Draupadi)”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

14 people liked it

See all Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's quotes »

Polls

November 2011 Indian Group Book Reads:
Dear friends, do vote for your favorite among these. You have till October 20th. The winner will be discussed next month, the discussion being lead by the member who recommended the same

The Palace of Illusions-Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

6 votes, 54.5%

Chanakya's Chant-Ashwin Sanghi

4 votes, 36.4%

Paro: Dreams of Passion-Namita Gokhale

1 vote, 9.1%

11 total votes

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Quotes Chitra Likes

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
― Aristotle

tags: knowledge-habit-inspirational

1,068 people liked it

“Having lots of money while not having inner peace is like dying of thirst while bathing in the ocean.”
― Yogananda Paramahamsa

tags: inspirational , life-and-living

1 person liked it

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein

tags: humor

4,217 people liked it

“If you're feeling helpless, help someone. ”
― Aung San Suu Kyi

26 people liked it

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”
― Confucius

tags: reading , study , willful-ignorance

552 people liked it

More quotes Chitra likes…