Esther David

Esther David
Born 17 March 1945
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Occupation Author, artist, sculptor
Nationality Indian
Alma mater Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Genre Fiction, Anthropology
Notable works The Book of Rachel
Website
estherdavid.com

Esther David (born 17 March 1945) is a Jewish-Indian author, an artist and a sculptor.[1] She was born into a Bene Israel Jewish family[2] in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She won Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010 for The Book of Rachel.[3]

Her father, Reuben David, was a hunter-turned-veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and Balvatika near Kankaria lake in Ahmedabad.[4] Her mother, Sarah, was a school teacher.[5]

After her schooling in Ahmedabad, she joined Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, as a student of Fine Arts and Art History. There she met Sankho Chaudhary, a sculptor, who taught her sculpture and Art History.[3] After her graduation she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor in art history and art appreciation. She taught at the Sheth C.N. Fine Art, CEPT University and NIFT.

She started writing about art and became the Times of India art critic, a national English daily. Later she became a columnist for Femina, a women's magazine, the "Times of India" and other leading national dallies. She is an advisory editor of Eve Times, Ahmedabad.[6] She has written several books. She had edited and contributed in some books also.[7] Her books are related to Bene Israel Jews in Ahmedabad.[3]

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) featured Shalom India Housing Society in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010–2011 calendar, which highlights 12 Jewish women authors across the world whose "writing illuminates a particular city". The title of the calendar was Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them.[8]

Bibliography

Contributor
Editor

Awards and recognition

References

  1. Weil, Shalva. 2008 'Esther David: The Bene Israel Novelist who Grew Up with a Tiger' in David Shulman and Shalva Weil (eds) Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 232–253.
  2. Weil, Shalva. 2012 "The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context", Journal of Comparative Family Studies 43 (1): 71–80
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "City-based author wins Sahitya Akademi award". www.ndtv.com. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  4. Roland, Joan. 2009. "The Contributions of the Jews of India" in (ed) Shalva Weil India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle, Mumbai: Marg Publications [first published in 2002; 3rd edn.].
  5. 5.0 5.1 http://www.easternbookcorporation.com/moreinfo.php?txt_searchstring=12758
  6. "Esther David Official". Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  7. David, Esther. 2009. "Sari-Sutra: Bene Israel Costumes" in (ed) Shalva Weil India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle, Mumbai: Marg Publications [first published in 2002; 3rd edn.].
  8. "Esther David, Ahmedabad in US calendar on Jewish women writers". The Times of India. 26 September 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 "Esther David Books". Retrieved 5 October 2012. For a review, please refer to: Weil, Shalva. 2003 The Book of Esther by Esther David, reviewed in Biblio: A Review of Books, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 26.
  10. Shalom India Housing Society. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  11. One Church, One All Jewish Faith, One God. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  12. The Man with Enormous Wings. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  13. Weil, Shalva. 2009 'The Heritage and Legacy of Indian Jews' in Shalva Weil (ed.) India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle, Mumbai: Marg Publications [first published in 2002; 3rd edn.], pp. 8–21.
  14. "They are not on facebook". India Today. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.

Further reading

External links