Anita Rau Badami

Anita Rau Badami
Born (1961-09-24) 24 September 1961
Occupationwriter
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.anitaraubadami.ca

Anita Rau Badami (born 24 September 1961) is a Canadian writer of Indian descent.[1]

Personal life and education

Badami was born 24 September 1961 in Rourkela, Odisha, India, to a South Indian Kannada-speaking family.[2]

She attended Sophia College, where she studied Social Communications Media, and received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Madras.[3]

Badami married in 1984; her son was born in 1987.[4]

In 1991, she immigrated to Canada, then attended the University of Calgary, where she received a Master of Arts in Creative Writing in 1995. In 1997, her thesis project was published under the title Tamarind Mem.[3]

Career

Badami began her career in India as a copywriter and freelance journalist.[1][5][6]

After moving to Canada in 1991, she published her first novel, Tamarind Mem, in 1996.[1]

In 2014-15 Badami was writer-in-residence at Athabasca University in Edmonton.[7][8]

In 2017, Badami was chair of the Scotiabank Giller Prize jury.[9][10]

Influences

Badami cites as among her favourite books Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, Cat's Eye and Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul, and Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson.[11]

Awards and honours

In 2000, Badami won the Marian Engel Award to honour her body of work.[3][10]

In 2016, The Hero's Walk was listed as one of the five finalists for the CBC Canada Reads competition.[10][12]

In 2019, CBC Books included Badami on their "100 writers in Canada the world should read" list.[13]

Awards for Badami's writing
Year Title Award Category Result Ref.
2000 The Hero's Walk Kiriyama Prize Fiction Shortlist [14]
2001 Commonwealth Book Prize Best Book: Canada and the Caribbean Winner [3][15]
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize — Shortlist [16]
2002 Orange Prize for Fiction — Longlist [17]
2008 Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? International Dublin Literary Award — Longlist [10][12][18]
2012 Tell It to the Trees International Dublin Literary Award — Longlist [19]
2013 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award — Shortlist [20]

Bibliography

  • Tamarind Mem. Viking Penguin. 1997. ISBN 9780670874552.[21][22][23]
  • The Hero's Walk. Alfred A. Knopf Canada. 2001. ISBN 9780676972252.[24][25][26][27][28]
  • Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?. Knopf Canada. 2006. ISBN 9780676976045.[29]
  • Tell It to the Trees. Knopf Canada. 2011. ISBN 9780676978933.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Anita Rau Badami". Canadian Writers. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  2. ↑ Richards, Linda (August 2000). "Anita Rau Badami - Interview". January Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Anita Rau Badami". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  4. ↑ Mickley, Lisa (May 2017). "Badami, Anita Rau – Postcolonial Studies". Emory University. Archived from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "Badami, Anita Rau". ABC BookWorld. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  6. ↑ Gaddy, Angie (25 September 2003). "Anita Rau Badami: She's a writer on the move". Concordio Thursday Report. Vol. 28, no. 2.
  7. ↑ Jacobsen, Scott (25 March 2016). "Anita Rau Badami: An Interview". The Voice. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022.
  8. ↑ "Anita Rau Badami | Writer in Residence". Athabasca University. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Introducing the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury". Giller Prize. 16 January 2017. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Robertson, Becky (16 January 2017). "Anita Rau Badami to chair 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  11. ↑ Tancock, Kat (30 September 2006). "Interview with author Anita Rau Badami". Canadian Living. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Anita Rau Badami". CBC Books. 22 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "100 writers in Canada the world should read". CBC Books. 29 June 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  14. ↑ "2000 Kiriyama Prize Winners". FictionDB. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2007.
  16. ↑ "Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize". Canadian Books & Authors. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  17. ↑ Yates, Emma (20 March 2002). "Orange longlist celebrates diversity". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Can you Hear the Nightbird Call". Dublin Literary Award. 20 September 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  19. ↑ Carter, Sue (12 November 2012). "deWitt and Edugyan among 20 Canadian authors longlisted for IMPAC". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  20. ↑ Sequeira, Natalie (4 February 2013). "OLA announces shortlist for 2013 Evergreen Award". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "Tamarind Woman". Kirkus Reviews. 15 December 2001. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  22. ↑ "TAMARIND WOMAN by Anita Rau Badami". Publishers Weekly. 14 January 2002. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  23. ↑ Van Luven, Lynne (17 March 2004). "Tamarind Mem". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  24. ↑ Hansen, Suzy (19 April 2001). "'The Hero's Walk' by Anita Rau Badami". Salon.com. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  25. ↑ "The Hero's Walk". Kirkus Reviews. 15 February 2001. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  26. ↑ "The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami". Publishers Weekly. 1 April 2001. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  27. ↑ Bhatta, Bishnu Prasad (2009). Quest for Female Identity in Anita Rau Badami's The Hero's Walk (Master's thesis). Tribhuvan University.
  28. ↑ Karthika, C. (June 2018). "Dislocated Self: A Study of Immigrant Psyche in Anita Rau Badami's The Hero's Walk" (PDF). Language in India. 18 (6): 81–85.
  29. ↑ "Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?". Quill and Quire. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  30. ↑ "Tell It to the Trees". Quill and Quire. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2023.