Bidisha (born Bidisha Bandyopadhyay,[1][2] 29 July 1978, London[3]) is a feminist, critic, broadcaster and writer.[4][5] She began writing professionally for arts magazines such as i-D, Dazed and Confused and the NME at the age of 15 and published her first novel at 18.[6]
| Bidisha | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bidisha Bandyopadhyay July 29, 1978 London |
| Occupation | writer / broadcaster |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | Indian |
| Alma mater | St Edmund Hall |
| Period | 1997-present |
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Bidisha is an only child, her parents are both lecturers in information technology who emigrated from India in 1972.[7][8] She was educated at the private school Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls and speaks English and Bengali.[9] She studied Old and Middle English at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford[6][1] and gained an MSc in Moral and Political Philosophy and Economic History at the London School of Economics.
In 1995 at the age of 16 Bidisha signed a £15,000 book deal with HarperCollins. Her first novel, Seahorses, was published two years later, during her first year at university.[10] During this time she also had regular opinion columns in The Big Issue magazine, the Daily Telegraph and the Thursday edition of The Independent newspaper. Bidisha's second novel, the thriller Too Fast to Live, was published when she was 21. Her third book, Venetian Masters - a travel memoir - was published in February 2008.[11] She was a contributing editor of the feminist magazine Sibyl and the style magazine 2nd Generation. She has written for The Guardian, the Financial Times, Mslexia, The Observer, New Statesman and arts magazine The List.[12] She was one of the judges for the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction and was announced as one of the judges of the 2010 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.[13]
Bidisha's writing focuses on gender, and she describes that writing about this particular topic "comes naturally".[14] She describes herself as a "lifelong feminist" and as the daughter of a feminist.[15][5] Writing in the Guardian on sexual harassment, she calls street harassment "verbal rape": "When a male intentionally breaks into a woman's peace of mind and violates her space, when he perpetrates the act to enjoy her chagrin and discomfort, his psychological processes are the same as any rapist." In the piece she also states, "It has become a rhetorical nicety to say that the majority of men respect women and that all abuse is perpetrated by a minority. I do not believe this. I believe that the majority of people of both sexes hate women."[16] She often writes on matters and events she perceives to be misogynist. In an article on "casual sexism" she writes, "Apart from outright slander, jibes, names and insults there is: talking down a woman's work, interrupting her, teasing her, mocking her, talking over her, patronising her, sighing or rolling one's eyes when she talks, invading her personal space." She also writes, "Any man who thinks it's OK to live in a household where the woman does the overwhelming majority of all the housework, childcare and family admin is a woman-hater. If he weren't, it would agonise him to live in such an unequal and exploitative setup."[17]
In tandem with her writing, Bidisha has developed a career as a radio and TV arts critic and presenter.[18] She was a regular guest on BBC Two's Newsnight Review. For BBC Radio 4 she has contributed regularly to Saturday Review and Front Row as well as presenting Archive on Four, Heart and Soul and Woman's Hour.[19] She was one of the regular presenters of BBC Radio 3's arts programme, Night Waves. On the World Service she was a guest presenter of the books programme The Word and was a regular stand-in host for The Strand.[20]
She is single [21]and lives in Southgate, North London with her parents.[22][23][24]