INTERVIEW: Jhumpa Lahiri

 Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri is the sort of woman who makes being brilliant and accomplished appear effortless. At 36, and with just two books behind her, Lahiri is already one of the most celebrated American authors of her generation. Her first book, a short story collection called 'Interpreter of Maladies', earned her the coveted Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2OOO.

The Pulitzer, the American equivalent of the Booker prize, represents the pinnacle of literary success. Previous recipients of the...