Arundhati Roy: A Biography
Booker Prize winning authorr Arundhati Roy was born on November 24, 1961. Her father a Bengali tea planter and mother a Kerala Christian woman.
She spent her childhood in Aymanam, Kerala, where she went to an informal school run by her mother.
Roy
left home at 16 for
Delhi
. She lived in a slum and made a living by selling empty bottles.
She later joined Delhi School of Architecture. It is where she met her first husband Gererd Da Cunha, a fellow student.
Roy and Cunha divorced after four years of marriage. After she met her second husband, filmmaker Pradeep Kishen, she got involved in film making. Her film credits include Massey Sahib; In Which Annie gives it Those Ones. She wrote screen play for television serial Electric Moon and Banyan Tree.
Her novel Good of Small Things, which won Booker Prize in 1997, is a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood in Kerala. Jim Crace for Quarantine, Mick Jackson for The Underground Man, Bernard MacLaverty for Grace Notes, Tim Parks for Europa, Madeline St John for The Essence of the Thing made it to the Booker nominations that year. She received a half a million pounds as advance for the book, whose rights were sold in 21 countries.
Roy who saw the stardom Booker Prize brought as short lived and tried to stay away from limelight. After the initial hype subsided, she concentrated on writing about ‘s nuclear tests, social injustice, anti-globalization, terrorism, and the
Narmada
dam project in Indian state of
Gujarat
. Recipient of 2002 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom, she was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her role in social campaigns and promoting non-violence.
“The Cost of Living”,”War Talk” and “Algebra of Infinite Justice” are the other major works by
Roy
. Algebra of Infinite Justice has her take on ‘s nuclear tests, the
Narmada
dam project which has displaced thousands, religious riots in state of
Gujarat
and rise of Hindu fundamentalism in . The book was awarded the prestigious “Sahitya Academy” Award in 2005 which she declined “in protest against the Indian Government toeing the US line by “violently and ruthlessly pursuing policies of brutalization of industrial workers, increasing militarization and economic neo-liberalization”.(Deccan Herald, January 16,2006).
After the events of Sept 11, 2002,
Roy
emerged as a fierce critic of government and US policies. In 2005 she took part in the World Tribunal in . The tribunal formed by no elected individuals, intellectuals and human rights campaigners. It is modeled after the Russell Tribunal, established during the Vietnam War.
She lives in
New Delhi
, with her husband.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arundhati_Roy&oldid=61827856
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Tribunal_on_Iraq&oldid=53760618http://website.lineone.net/~jon.simmons/roy/tgost2.htm
