Chaudhuri, Amit

(Indian, 1962– )

Born in Calcutta, Amit Chaudhuri studied at the universities of London and Oxford. His debut novel, A Strange and Sublime Address (1991), received a number of awards, and established Chaudhuri among the best English-language writers from India in his generation. The deceptively simple tale of everyday life in a small Indian community, A Strange and Sublime Address is notable for its detailed and poetic prose style, where small events like a visit to the cinema or a family meal are pinned down with a clarity that belies their ordinariness. Afternoon Raag (1993) followed in a similar vein, and Freedom Song (1998) extended Chaudhuri's style to a more complex story, exploring emigration and politics. His fourth novel, A New World, a quiet and claustrophobic portrait of domestic lives in Calcutta, was published in 2000. Chaudhuri's low-key style has perhaps allowed its qualities of subtlety and exactness to be underestimated.

Arundhati Roy, Romesh Gunesekera, Salman Rushdie. See INDIA  WB