Anita Rau Badami

Anita Rau Badami (born 24 September 1961) is a writer of South Asian descent living in Canada. Born in Rourkela, Odisha, India, she was educated at the University of Madras and Sophia Polytechnic in Bombay. She emigrated to Canada in 1991, and earned an M.A. at the University of Calgary. Her first novel was Tamarind Mem (1997).

Her novels deal with the complexities of Indian family life and with the cultural gap that emerges when Indians move to the west.

Badami's third novel, Can You Hear the Nightbird Call explores the Golden Temple Massacre and the Air India Bombing.

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.^[1] In 2015 Badami was writer-in-residence at Athabasca University in Edmonton. In 2016 The Hero's Walk was listed as one of the five finalists for the CBC Canada Reads competition.

In 2017, Badami was announced as chair of the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury.^[2]

Bibliography

• Tamarind Mem - 1997 ISBN 0-670-86916-3 (U.S. title: Tamarind Woman - 2002)
• The Hero's Walk - 2001 ISBN 0-676-97225-X
• Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? - 2006 ISBN 978-0676976052
• Tell it to the Trees- 2011 ISBN 978-0676978940

References

External links

• A conversation with Anita Rau Badami
• Review of The Hero's Walk
• Review of Tamarind Mem
• Anita Rau Badami fan page
• Records of Anita Rau Badami are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books