Biographical Information - Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri

uJhumpa Lahiri (full name Nilanjana Sudheshna Lahiri) was
born in 1967 in London, England to Indian parents. The family
nickname “Jhumpa” stuck because her teachers found it easier
 to pronounce.

uAt age two, her family moved to the U.S. and she grew up in Kingston, Rhode Island.

uShe has a B.A. in English from Barnard College, and an M.A. in English, M.F.A. in Creative Writing, M.A. in Comparative Literature, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies from Boston University.

uIn 2001, she married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush (now Senior Editor of TIME Latin America). They have two sons.
uLahiri lived in Rome, Italy for the last three years and just recently returned to the U.S.

uWhen Lahiri grew up in the 1970s, Indian culture was not as common in America as it is now (no Indian restaurants, no Indians represented in television, etc.).

uWhen she was young, her family took many trips back to India to visit relatives.

uGrowing up, she felt very isolated and rejected by her peers because of her differences.

uLahiri struggled with the strain between her family’s culture and American culture, and never truly accepted an American identity, even after four decades of living in the U.S. Moving to Italy gave her a new identity she never found in Indian or American culture. 

Literary Contributions

Short story collections:

uInterpreter of Maladies (1999)- winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, consists of nine short stories, examines the culture and identity of Indian Americans

uUnaccustomed Earth (2008)- also depicts the lives of Indian Americans

Novels:

uThe Namesake (2003)-  explores the issue of conflicting cultures in the lives of two Indian immigrants and their son

uThe Lowland (2013)- tells the story of two Indian brothers and the aftermath of one of them moving to the United States 

Sources

 n          Biography.com Editors. “Jhumpa Lahiri Biography.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 14 Oct. 2015

             "Books." Jhumpa Lahiri. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/jhumpalahiri/>. 

             Inskeep, Steve. “Jhumpa Lahiri’s Struggle to Feel American.” NPR. NPR, 25 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

             Tayler, Christopher. “Change and Loss.” The Guardian. 20 June 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2015