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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/

genre

Literature & Fiction

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 merch...moreChitra 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.

Divakaruni 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 on the board of Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.

Divakaruni 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.

Divakaruni 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.

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41 posts
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Blog

Crucial Writing Tip: Don't Fall Out of the Fictive Dream

As writers we often experience writer's block. We just don't know which way the plot should go next. Or we feel that an idea we were very enthusiastic about and envisioned clearly no longer excites us. Or a character that we felt we understood in a deep and truthful way is beginning to fade or stiffen. What has happened in these cases? I believe we have fallen out of the fictive dream.

John Gardne... read more »

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Published on July 29, 2011 22:02 • 135 views

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Books by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Average rating: 3.68 · 17,484 ratings · 2,510 reviews · 28 distinct works

	Sister of My Heart 3.93 avg rating — 5,097 ratings — published 1997 — 16 editions	My rating:
	The Mistress of Spices 3.47 avg rating — 3,572 ratings — published 1997 — 27 editions	My rating:
	The Palace of Illusions 3.89 avg rating — 1,708 ratings — published 2008 — 17 editions	My rating:
	One Amazing Thing 3.39 avg rating — 1,617 ratings — published 2010 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Arranged Marriage: Stories 3.71 avg rating — 1,368 ratings — 11 editions	My rating:
	The Vine Of Desire 3.41 avg rating — 1,276 ratings — published 2000 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Queen of Dreams 3.52 avg rating — 831 ratings — published 2004 — 17 editions	My rating:
	The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Stories 3.76 avg rating — 712 ratings — published 2001 — 14 editions	My rating:
	The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch, #1) 3.64 avg rating — 697 ratings — 10 editions	My rating:
	Neela: Victory Song 3.74 avg rating — 309 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 — 932 ratings

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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 Banerjee Divakaruni wrote a new blog post: Crucial Writing Tip: Don't Fall Out of the Fictive Dream

Crucial Writing Tip: Don't Fall Out of the Fictive Dream

As writers we often experience writer's block. We just don't know which way the plot should go next. Or we feel that an idea we were very enthusiastic... read more »

Jul 29, 2011 06:41pm ·

like 1 like

Chitra Banerjee made a comment in the group Q&A with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni — Hello to my Readers topic

"Elaine wrote: "Hi Chitra -- I am hoping you will reply to question 68 soon, and I thought of an addendum. Is it your intention when you start a story...more"

Apr 24, 2009 09:05pm

Chitra Banerjee made a comment in the group Q&A with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni — Short Stories topic

"Hi Nikki--sorry for the delay--somehow I wasn't sent the notification for this post. Thanks so much for teaching the story. It came out of my experien...more"

Apr 23, 2009 06:10am

Chitra Banerjee made a comment in the group Q&A with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni — Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter topic

"Hi Carol
"Mrs Dutta" is, of course, the story of a particular family and focuses on the plight of old parents who follow their children to the US. In g...more"

Apr 23, 2009 06:03am

Chitra Banerjee made a comment in the group Q&A with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni — Author visit topic

"Friends--please note: a q&a on my books is also going on under the topic Hello to my readers. Please do post comments about books or questions there. ...more"

Apr 23, 2009 05:58am

Chitra Banerjee liked a trivia question:

"Which author was also a famous mathematician?"

Apr 15, 2009 09:10am

Chitra Banerjee took the Never-Ending Book Quiz

questions answered:	7
correct:	7 (100.0%)
skipped:	1
best streak:	5
questions added:	0

Apr 15, 2009 09:10am · beat her score

Chitra Banerjee said "yes" to attending the event: Reading/Talk

date: April 13, 2009 03:00PM
location: University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa, AL, The United States
description: Chitra will hold a public talk as well as a Q&A with students who have been reading Mistress of Spices and Palace of Illusions

Apr 11, 2009 11:56am

Chitra Banerjee marked as to-read:

Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese

My rating:

Apr 04, 2009 04:46pm

Chitra Banerjee gave

to:

Run
by Ann Patchett

My rating:

Mar 26, 2009 04:10pm

More of Chitra's books…

Quotes by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“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

14 people liked it

“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

14 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

10 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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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: 15.7 - "You Must Be The Change You Want To See In The World."	24	156	Jun 07, 2010 09:25am
Between the Lines: what book did you finish?	1034	1117	Jul 23, 2010 01:13pm

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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

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