https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=R._Raj_RaoR. Raj Rao - Revision history2026-09-07T19:55:42ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._Raj_Rao&diff=150495&oldid=previmported>GreenC bot: Rescued 1 archive link. Wayback Medic 2.52021-08-09T02:59:36Z<p>Rescued 1 archive link. <a href="/w/index.php?title=User:GreenC/WaybackMedic_2.5&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:GreenC/WaybackMedic 2.5 (page does not exist)">Wayback Medic 2.5</a></p>
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{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --><br />
| name = R. Raj Rao<br />
| image = R. Raj Rao, Goa 2015.jpg<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1955}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[India]]<br />
| notableworks = ''[[The Boyfriend (2003 novel)|The Boyfriend]]''<br />
| occupation = Writer, professor of literature<br />
| alma_mater = [[University of Bombay]]<br/>[[University of Warwick]]<br />
| genre = [[Poststructuralism]], [[LGBT literature]]<br />
| influences = <br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Ramachandrapurapu Raj Rao''' (born 1955) is an Indian writer, poet and teacher of literature who has been described as "one of India's leading gay-rights activists".<ref>Massachusetts Institute of Technology: [http://web.mit.edu/cms/betweenthelines/speakers.html "Speaker Profiles," April 2004], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> His 2003 novel ''[[The Boyfriend (2003 novel)|The Boyfriend]]'' is one of the first gay novels to come from India.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-07/india/28358351_1_gay-issues-love-story-gay-theme|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606143729/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-07/india/28358351_1_gay-issues-love-story-gay-theme|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 June 2012|title=Authors get bold as gay literature picks up in India|last=Arora|first=Kim|date=7 February 2011| work= [[The Times of India]]| accessdate=15 May 2011}}</ref><ref>''Pink Pages'': [http://pink-pages.co.in/culture/books/the-boyfriend/ ''The Boyfriend''], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> Rao was one of the first recipients of the newly established Quebec-India awards.<ref>Concordia University: [http://mediarelations.concordia.ca/pressreleases/archives/2008/01/quebecindia_visiting_scholar_a.php "Quebec-India Visiting Scholar Awards Program Welcomes Two Professors," January 29, 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023022346/http://mediarelations.concordia.ca/pressreleases/archives/2008/01/quebecindia_visiting_scholar_a.php |date=23 October 2008 }}, accessed 15 May 2011</ref><br />
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==Personal life==<br />
R. Raj Rao was born in [[Bombay]], India. He earned a PhD in English from the [[University of Bombay]] in 1986 and received the Nehru Centenary British Fellowship for his post-doctoral research at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, [[University of Warwick]], UK<ref name=concordia /> He attended the [[International Writing Program]], [[Iowa]], in 1996.<ref name=read>[http://www.3dsyndication.com/dna/City-Pune/dna_english_news_and_features/Raj-Rao-to-read-his-plays-today/DNPUN37603 "Raj Rao to read his plays today," April 1, 2011], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> His works include ''Slide Show'' (poems). He has edited Ten Indian Writers in Interview and co-edited ''Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1980)''. He works as a professor and head of the English Department at the [[University of Pune]]. Rao is openly gay.<ref name=hindustan>{{citation |title=Too queer to be true |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Too-queer-to-be-true/Article1-604269.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029203718/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Too-queer-to-be-true/Article1-604269.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 October 2010 |first=Ashok Row |last=Kavi |date=26 September 2010 |accessdate=9 January 2011 |periodical=[[Hindustan Times]]}}</ref> On the recurring themes of homosexuality in his works, Rao says: "I am myself a poet, novelist, playwright and writer of non-fiction. Similarly, my teaching and research interests in queer theory and queer literature are a direct and natural outcome of my being gay and imaginatively tackling the subject in my fiction, poetry and plays."<ref name=concordia>''Concordia Journal'': [http://cjournal.concordia.ca/archives/20080214/international_interdisciplinarity.php Karen Herland, "International Interdisciplinary," February 14, 2008], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> His poems appeared in many prestigious poetry anthologies like ''[[The Dance of the Peacock]]'' besides other noted journals and anthologies.<ref name=brook>{{cite news|last1=Grove|first1=Richard|title=The Dance of the Peacock:An Anthology of English Poetry from India|url=http://hiddenbrookpress.com/Book-Indo-EnglishPoetry.html|accessdate=5 January 2015|issue=current|publisher=Hidden Brook Press, Canada}}</ref><ref name=press>{{cite web|last1=Press|first1=Hidden Brook|title=Hidden Brook Press|url=http://hiddenbrookpress.com|publisher=Hidden Brook Press|accessdate=5 January 2015}}</ref><br />
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==Rao in the queer scene==<br />
Poems from Rao's BOMGaY collection served as the basis for [[Riyad Vinci Wadia]]'s film ''[[Bomgay]]'' (1996),<ref>Internet Movie Database: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115603/ Bomgay (1996)], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> said to be India's first [[gay film]]. ''The Boyfriend'' was his first novel.<ref>Sandeep Bakshi, Fractured Resistance: Queer Negotiations of the Postcolonial in R. Raj Rao’s The Boyfriend, South Asian Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2012</ref> It was released with fanfare by Penguin India all over the country in 2003. Filled with irreverent, dry humour and devoid of sentimentality, ''The Boyfriend'' is a tragi-comic love story set in the jumbled up heart of Mumbai. According to a blurb, "[The Boyfriend] also deals with unsparing irony the realities of caste, class, religion, masculinity and the gay subculture in India".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Boyfriend - Goodreads|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/377207.The_Boyfriend|access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> It created quite a stir when it first appeared and was discussed in many prominent magazines as a guide to the then underground gay subculture in Bombay.<ref>''Hindu Literary Review'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20031009001907/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2003/09/07/stories/2003090700220400.htm "First Impression," September 7, 2003], accessed 15 May 2011</ref><ref>BBC: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3001126.stm Zubair Ahmed , "Gay Bombay comes out," June 19, 2003], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> It went on to be used as a model for the queer scene in India in researches in the field of queer studies.<ref>Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies: [http://ocs.sfu.ca/aclals/viewabstract.php?id=64 Terry Goldie, "R. Raj Rao's ''The Boyfriend'': A Model of the Indian Homosexual?," September 10, 2006], accessed 15 May 2011</ref><ref>Iowa Research Online: [http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1531&context=etd Sucheta Mallick Choudhuri, "Transgressive territories: queer space in Indian fiction and film," 2009], accessed 15 May 2011</ref><ref>York University: [http://www.yorku.ca/gradengl/courses/6559%2030.html "Sexuality and Literature: Sexology vs. Fiction"], accessed 15 May 2011</ref><br />
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Rao published the non-fiction work ''Whistling in the Dark'' in 2009, the novels ''Hostel Room 131'' in 2010 and ''Lady Lolita's Lover''<ref>Harper Collins India: [https://harpercollins.co.in/book/lady-lolitas-lover/ "Lady Lolita’s Lover"], accessed 20 August 2018</ref> in 2015.<br />
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Following the success of ''The Boyfriend'', Rao founded the Queer Studies Circle at Pune University.<ref>''Times of India'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20120606143825/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-07-27/pune/27290282_1_aids-workers-aids-prevention-joanne-csete "Gay rights groups hail bid to amend law," July 27, 2002], accessed 15 May 2011</ref> Rao was one of the first to offer a course on [[LGBT]] literature at the university level in [[India]].<ref>''The Punekar'': [http://thepunekar.com/2010/10/15/marathi-teacher-takes-charge-of-english-department-at-pune-university/ "Marathi teacher takes charge of English department at Pune University," October 15, 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831002122/http://thepunekar.com/2010/10/15/marathi-teacher-takes-charge-of-english-department-at-pune-university/ |date=31 August 2011 }}, accessed 15 May 2011</ref> Rao first offered it in 2007, after years of resistance on the part of his academic superiors. He said: "It's strange how the academic fraternity that has always been quick to accept all kinds of literature — Marxist, feminist, Dalit — had a huge reservation when it came to queer literature. For years, the Board of Studies refused to let us start the course saying that 'Indian students do not need it'. Finally we clubbed it with Dalit literature and started it under the genre of Alternative Literature."<ref>''The Punekar'': [http://thepunekar.com/2009/07/16/gay-lesbian-course-at-uop-sets-an-example-for-other-universities/ "Gay-lesbian course at UoP sets an example for other universities," July 16, 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404014028/http://www.thepunekar.com/2009/07/16/gay-lesbian-course-at-uop-sets-an-example-for-other-universities/ |date=4 April 2012 }}, accessed 15 May 2011</ref><br />
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==Works==<br />
*''Sildeshow'' ([[Peepal Tree Press]], 1992), poems<br />
*''Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1985)'' (South Asia Books, 1993), co-editor with Sudhakar Pandey<br />
*''[[Nissim Ezekiel]]: The Authorized Biography'' (Viking, 2000)<br />
*''One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City'' ([[Harper Collins]] India, 2001), short stories<br />
*''The Wisest Fool on Earth and Other Plays'' ( The Brown Critique, [[Kolkata]] )<br />
*''The Boyfriend'' ([[Penguin Books|Penguin]], 2003), novel<br />
*''Whistling in the Dark: Twenty-One Queer Interviews'' (Sage, 2009), co-editor with Dibyajyoti Sarma<br />
*''Hostel Room 131'' (2010), novel<br />
*''Lady Lolita's Lover'' ([[Harper Collins]] India, 2015), novel<br />
*''Ten Indian Authors in Interview'', editor<br />
*''Madam, Give Me My Sex'' (Bloomsbury India, 2019), novel<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist|30em}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/The-secrets-of-a-boys%E2%80%99-hostel/200997.html Interview, August 28, 2010], [[Express Buzz]]<br />
*[https://penguin.co.in/book_author/r-raj-rao/ R. Raj Rao] at [[Penguin India]]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, R. Raj}}<br />
[[Category:1955 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick]]<br />
[[Category:Gay writers]]<br />
[[Category:LGBT writers from India]]<br />
[[Category:LGBT rights activists from India]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Queer writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian postmodern writers]]<br />
[[Category:Queer theorists]]<br />
[[Category:Poststructuralists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male novelists]]<br />
[[Category:English-language poets from India]]<br />
[[Category:International Writing Program alumni]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Novelists from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:Poets from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Indian short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Indian biographers]]<br />
[[Category:Male biographers]]</div>imported>GreenC bot