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Arundhati Roy

Born in 1961 in Bengal, Arundhati Roy grew up in Kerala. She was trained as an architect at the Delhi School of Architecture, but became better known for her complex, scathing film scripts. She wrote and starred in In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, and wrote the script for Pradip Kishen’s Electric Moon. Media attention came when she spoke out in support of Phoolan Devi, who she felt had been exploited by Shekhar Kapur’s film Bandit Queen. The controversy escalated into a court case, after which she retired to private life to work on her first book, The God of Small Things, which was published in 1997. The half-million pound advance on this book, more than Vikram Seth’s for A Suitable shot her to fame again. As the daughter of Mary Roy, the woman whose court case changed the inheritance laws in favour of women, she was closely acquainted with the Syrian Christian traditions which feature prominently in the book.

The God of Small Things won Britain’s premiere book prize, the Booker McConnell, in 1997. Although Indian authors such as Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry have featured in the Booker shortlist, and Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children won the ‘Booker of Bookers’, Roy is the first non-expatriate Indian author and the first Indian woman to have won this prize. To top it all, this happened in 1997, India’s 50th anniversary of independence from Britain. As always, the exclusions and choices of the Booker judges created some controversy, with some critics praising the lush imagery of Roy’s book while others referred to it as ‘tripe’. The book has also attracted a lawsuit and angry criticism from Kerala’s leftists.

Much speculation ensued about her next project: would it be a play, another novel, or poetry? Roy squelched the gossip by saying that she might never write another novel and had no intentions of trying to rival the success of her first. In keeping with her long-time interest in social issues, she has immersed herself in causes such as the anti-nuclear movement and the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Her two major essays, The End of Imagination and The Greater Common Good are available online as well as in print. Her personal fame has drawn attention and donations to these causes, and she has also made significant monetary contributions herself. Her involvement in these causes has also attracted controversy, with some criticism from all sides of the political spectrum.