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Samrat Upadhyay

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Samrat Upadhyay
सम्राट उपाध्यायl
Born1964
Kathmandu, Nepal
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Professor at Indiana University, writer
Notable workFirst Nepalese writer published from west Arresting God in Kathmandu
ChildrenShay Upadhyay
AwardsWhiting Award, 2001
Websitesamratupadhyay.com

Samrat Upadhyay (Nepali: सम्राट उपाध्याय) (born 1964)[1][2] is a Nepalese born American writer who writes in English. Upadhyay is a professor of creative writing and has previously served as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Indiana University.[3] He is the first Nepali-born fiction writer writing in English to be published in the West.[4] He was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, and came to the United States in 1984 at the age of twenty-one. He lives with his wife and daughter in Bloomington, Indiana.

In 2001, Upadhyay won a Whiting Award for fiction. He was an English professor at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio before moving to Indiana in 2003.

His books specially portray the current situation in Nepal, which Upadhyay views largely through the lens of contemporary American realist fiction. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Upadhyay is "like a Buddhist Chekhov."[5]

Selected texts

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Arresting God in Kathmandu (2001)

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Main article: Arresting God in Kathmandu

First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2001, Arresting God in Kathmandu is Upadhyay's first book. It is a collection of nine short stories. With Arresting God in Kathmandu Upadhyay won a Whiting Award.

Short stories

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  1. The Good Shopkeeper
  2. The Cooking Poet
  3. Deepak Misra's Secretary
  4. The Limping Bride
  5. During the Festival
  6. The Room Next Door
  7. The Man with Long Hair
  8. This World
  9. A Great Man's House

The Guru of Love (2003)

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First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2003, The Guru of Love is Upadhyay's second book and first full-length novel. The Guru of Love was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2003.

It is not the basis for the 2008 Mike Myers film The Love Guru.

The Royal Ghosts (2006)

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First published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2006, The Royal Ghosts is Upadhyay's third book, a collection of nine short stories.

Short stories

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  1. A Refuge
  2. The Wedding Hero
  3. The Third Stage
  4. Supreme Pronouncements
  5. The Weight of a Gun
  6. Chintamani's Women
  7. Father, Daughter
  8. A Servant in the City
  9. The Royal Ghosts

Buddha's Orphans (2010)

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Published by Houghton Mifflin in 2010, Buddha's Orphans is Upadhyay's fourth book and second novel. Using Nepal's political upheavals of the past century as a backdrop, it tells the story of an orphan boy, Raja, and the girl he is fated to love, Nilu, a daughter of privilege. Their love story scandalizes both families and takes readers through time and across the globe, through the loss of and search for children, and through several generations, hinting that perhaps old bends can, in fact, be righted in future branches of a family tree.

Awards

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Awards for Upadhyay's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2004 The Guru of Love Kiriyama Prize for Fiction Finalist [6]
2007 The Royal Ghosts Society of Midland Authors Award for Adult Fiction Winner [7]
2012 Buddha's Orphans DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Longlist [8]
2018 Mad Country Aspen Words Literary Prize Shortlist [9]
2015 The City Son PEN Open Book Award Shortlist [10][11]

Publications

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  • Arresting God in Kathmandu (2001)
  • The Guru of Love (2004)
  • The Royal Ghosts (2006)
  • Buddha's Orphans (2010)
  • The City Son (2014)
  • Mad Country (2017)

References

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  1. ^ W. Xu, "Updahyay, Samrat (1964- )", in: Historical dictionary of Asian American literature and theater, 2012.
  2. ^ W. Oh, "Updahyay, Samrat (b. 1964- )", in: Encyclopedia of Asian-American literature, 2007.
  3. ^ "Indiana University Bloomington".
  4. ^ Indiana University Graduate Creative Writing Program – Samrat Upadhyay
  5. ^ Like a Buddhist Chekhov / Nepali writer's stories of life and love speak to common truths
  6. ^ "Previous Kiriyama Prize Finalists". The Kiriyama Prize. Archived from the original on 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  7. ^ "Past Winners". The Society of Midland Authors. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  8. ^ "Announcement of the DSC Prize Longlist for 2012". The DSC prize. 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  9. ^ Weisman, Jonathan (2018-03-06). "Awards: CWA Diamond Dagger; Aspen Words Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  10. ^ "2015 PEN Literary Award Winners Make Great Recommendations". the American Booksellers Association. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  11. ^ "2015 PEN Literary Awards Shortlist". PEN America. 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
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