“I
approach writing stories as a recorder. I think of my role as some kind of
reporting device - recording and projecting.” – Jhumpa Lahiri
Born on this date in 1967, Lahiri is
an Indian-American author and creative writing professor (at Princeton). After years of struggling to get even one
story published, she finally broke through in 1999 and within a year had a
collection that was worthy enough to not only be published – the startling Interpreter
of Maladies – but to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is one of the few story “collections” ever
so-honored.
Her first novel, The Namesake
is equally wonderful. To not only
experience what it’s like to have a name that is “different” but also relates
to someone famous, read this book. It’s
one of those books that you quietly curse under your breath as you realize it’s
already 2 in the morning and you should be asleep. And, if you don’t have time to read it,
find the film (by the same name). It’s a
great adaptation.
Lahiri, who is the first Indian-American to serve
on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 
keeps
busy with both teaching and writing, turning out terrific short stories
every few months. Her most recent novel,
The Lowland – is another “must read” for those who want to “know”
the modern-day U.S. immigrant experience.
It was a nominee for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award
for Fiction.
Although she didn’t grow up in
India, she has learned much about it from her parents and says “It interests me
to imagine characters shifting from one situation and one location to another
for whatever the circumstances might be.”
And, she added, finding just the right words, to say what needs to be
said.
“In fiction, plenty (of words) do the job of conveying information, rousing
suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain
sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil.
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