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Arundhati Roy

Indian novelist, essayist, and activist · India · On the map · Writers · Born 1961 · age 64

Suzanna Arundhati Roy is an Indian author best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the biggest-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. She is also a political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes.

Arundhati Roy is read about 1,907 times a day, in 73 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 10 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2018“the writer is the mid wife of understanding.”In their wordsin Every Day a Word Surprises Me & Other Quotes by Writers by Phaidon (2018) with citation

2017“she had learned from experience that Need was a warehouse that could accommodate a considerable amount of cruelty. (p10)”In their wordsThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

“I use the word love loosely, and only because my vocabulary is unequal to the task of describing the precise nature of that maze, that forest of feelings... (p153)”In their wordsThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

“maybe that’s what life is, or ends up being most of the time: a rehearsal for a performance that never eventually materializes. (p155)”In their wordsThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

“The moment I saw her, a part of me walked out of my body and wrapped itself around her. And there it still remains. (p156)”In their wordsThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

“...India belongs not to Punjabis, Biharis, Gujaratis, Madrasis, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, but to those beautiful creatures - peacocks, elephants, tigers, bears…" (p172)”In their wordsThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

2014Time 100Award2011Norman Mailer PrizeAward2005Sahitya Akademi Award in EnglishAward2004Orwell AwardAwardSydney Peace PrizeAward2002Lannan Cultural Freedom PrizeAward1997Booker PrizeAward1988National Film Award for Best ScreenplayAward1961Born24 November 1961

People around Arundhati

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In their own words 4

,
Arundhati Roy
,
4 statements, newest first

  1. The TV channels never ran out of sponsorship for their live telecasts of despair. They never ran out of despair. (p103)

    2017 · The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), Own words

  2. Normality in our part of the world is a bit like a boiled egg: its humdrum surface conceals at its heart a yolk of egregious violence.

    2017 · The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), Own words

  3. Even in the most uneventful of our lives, we are called upon to choose our battles (p165)

    2017 · The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), Own words

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Awards

Time 1002014
Norman Mailer Prize2011
Sahitya Akademi Award in English2005
Sydney Peace Prize2004
Orwell Award2004
Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize2002
Booker Prize1997
National Film Award for Best Screenplay1988

About this person

She was the winner of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize, given by English PEN, and she named imprisoned British-Egyptian writer and activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah as the "Writer of Courage" with whom she chose to share the award.

Country
India
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
Living
Dates
Born 1961 · age 64

Where to find them

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In the same film or series as Arundhati

Gareth ForwoodAlso in Electric Moon (1992)Lalit BehlAlso in Massey Sahib (1986)Raghubir YadavAlso in In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989)Leela NaiduAlso in Electric Moon (1992)Vishwajeet PradhanAlso in In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989)