Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a world-famous Indian-born American author and poet. She was born on 29 July 1956 in Kolkata, India. Her father Mr. Rajendra Kumar Banerjee was an accountant and her Mother Mrs. Tatini Banerjee was a schoolteacher.
Chitra is a Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Chitra Banerjee has written famous novels and poetries. For her work, She has been rewarded with several awards and honors. She won an American Book Award in 1996 for her short story collection ” Arranged Marriage”.
Chitra Banerjee’s short story “The Word Love” and two novels “The Mistress of Spices” and “Sister of My Heart” were adapted into films. Her work often focuses on the South Asian immigrants’s experience and is mostly set in India as well as in the United States. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni writes novels for children as well as adults. She has published her novels in multiple genres including myth, and fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction, and magical realism,
Early Life and Education
Divakaruni was born in Calcutta, India, in a middle-class Bengali family to Mr. Rajendra Kumar Banerjee and Mrs. Tatini Banerjee. She completed her Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from the University of Calcutta in 1976.
In 1976, she attended Wright State University in the United States and she completed her master’s degree. In 1985, She completed her Ph.D. in English in Berkeley from the University of California She has taken Christopher Marlowe as the subject of her doctoral dissertation.
Career
Chitra Banerjee put herself through graduate school by working odd jobs. She worked in different posts as a babysitter, a store clerk, and a bread slicer in a bakery. Ms.Chitra has worked as a lab assistant at Wright State University. She has worked in Berkeley at International House as a dining hall attendant
She worked in Berkeley as a graduate teaching assistant at U.C. In California, She also worked as a teacher at Foothill College and Diablo Valley College. Currently, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is living in Texas and is working as the McDavid Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program.
In 1991, Maitri (a helpline) was founded in San Francisco for South Asian women who are dealing with domestic abuse. Chitra Banerjee is the co-founder and former president of Maitri. Divakaruni is on the advisory board of the Maitri helpline. She is also on the advisory board of Daya, a similar helpline in Houston. Additionally, She has served on the board of Pratham Houston. The Pratham Houston is an organization that works to bring literacy to disadvantaged Indian children and is on its emeritus board.
Personal life
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni got married to S. Murthy Divakaruni on 29th June 1979. They were blessed with two sons Anand and Abhay. She lives in Houston with her husband.
Works
Fiction and Poetry
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni started her writing career as a poet. Her volumes of poetry include world-famous and highly applauded poetry “Black Candle” and “Leaving Yuba City”.
She won an American Book Award, A PEN Josphine Miles Award, and a Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for her first collection of stories” Arranged Marriage”.
She has written many novels. Her major novels include “The Mistress of Spices”, “Sister of My Heart”, “Queen of Dreams”, “One Amazing Thing”, “Palace of Illusions”, “Oleander Girl”, and “Before We Visit the Goddess”.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has also written a young adult fantasy series on the culture and folklore of the region. Her fantasy series is called” The Brotherhood of the Conch which is located in India.
In 2003, Bluebonnet Award, her first book of the series, The Conch Bearer was nominated. in 2005, her second book of the series, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming came out and in 2009, her third and final book of the series, Shadowland, was published.
In India, Chitra Divakaruni’s novel “The Palace of Illusions” is a re-telling of the Indian epic “The Mahabharata” from the perspective of Draupadi was a national best-seller for over a year. Her work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. Chitra’s writing has been included in anthologies. Which include the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize Stories, and the Pushcart Prize anthology.
On reader’s demand, Chitra’s fiction has been translated into 29 languages, including Indonesian, Bengali, Turkish, Dutch, Hebrew, and Japanese.
Film, Television, Theatre and Opera
In 2005, Chitra Divakaruni’s novel “The Mistress of Spices” was released as a film. Mr. Paul Mayeda Berges directed the film “The Mistress of Spices”. The script of the film was written by Berges and his wife, Gurinder Chadha.
Her novel “Sister of My Heart” was made into a television series “Anbulla Snegithiye (Loving Friend)” by Suhasini Maniratnam in Tamil and aired in India.
The producers NR Pachisia and Dipankar Jojo Chaki secured the rights to a film adaption of The Palace of Illusions in 2018.
in 2004, 2010, and 2016, Her story ” Clothes from the collection Arranged Marriage” was adapted into play under the title ” Arranged Marriage” by Peggy Shannon.
In 2013, Chitra Divakaruni wrote about the life of an Indian woman in Houston in “Libretto to a chamber opera for Houston Grand Opera”, “River of Light”. In 2014, her writing was premiered with its original compositions by Jack Perla. In 2015, it was shown again at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center by the opera company Festival Opera, directed by Tanya Kane-Parry.
Her story, “The Palace of Illusions” was adapted into a play named “Fire and Ice”: Draupadi’s Story by Joe DiSabatino and performed in India
Based on “The Palace of Illusions”, in India, A Bollywood movie with the title” Mahabharat”, in which Deepika Padukone played the role of Draupadi, is being prepared and its premiere was scheduled for 2021.
As of 2021, her other novel “One Amazing Thing” has been optioned to become a Bollywood film.
Honors and Awards
She has received several awards and honors including:
- In 1996 she received an American Book Award for her short story “Arranged Marriage”
- Again in 1996, the short story “Arranged Marriage” received the PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award
- Her short story” Arranged Marriage” received the Bay Area Book Reviewers’ Award.
- In 1997 she received the Pushcart Prize for “Leaving Yuba City: New and Selected Poems”
- In 2003, she again won the Pushcart Prize for “The Lives of Strangers”
- In 2007, Chitra Banerjee received a Distinguished Writer Award from the South Asian Literary Association.
Publications
Fiction
She wrote many fictions including:
- Arranged Marriage: Stories (1995)
- The Mistress of Spices (1997)
- Sister of My Heart (1999)
- The Unknown Errors of Our Lives (2001)
- The Vine of Desire (2002)
- Queen of Dreams (2004)
- The Lives of Strangers (2007)
- The Palace of Illusions: A Novel (2008)
- One Amazing Thing (2010)
- Oleander Girl (2013)
- Before We Visit the Goddess (2016)
- The Forest of Enchantments (2019)
- The Last Queen (2021)
- Independence (2023)
Young Adult and Children’s
Chitra also writes for children and young adults. Her writings include:
- Neela: Victory Song in 2002
- Children’s picture book- “Grandma and the Great Gourd” in 2013
Brotherhood of the Conch series
- In 2003, The Conch Bearer
- In 2005, The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming
- in 2009, Shadowland
Poetry
- The Reason for Nasturtiums, Berkeley (Berkeley Poets Workshop) in 1990.
- Black Candle. Poems About Women from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Corvallis (Calyx Books) in 1991.
- Leaving Yuba City, St. Louis (Turtleback Books) in 1997
Anthologies
- Multitude: Cross-Cultural Readings for Writers (1993)
- We Too Sing America (1997)
- California Uncovered: Stories for the 21st Century (2004)
