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{{short description|Indian journalist and novelist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Shobha De
| image = Shobhaa Rajadhyaksha De - Kolkata 2015-02-06 5715.JPG
| caption = De at an event in 2015
| nationality =
| birth_name = Shobha Rajadhyaksha
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|1|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Satara District]], [[Bombay State|Province of Bombay]], [[Dominion of India]]<br/>(present-day [[Maharashtra]], India)
| spouse = Dilip De
| children = 4
| occupation = {{hlist|Author|columnist|novelist}}
| website =
}}

'''Shobha De''' (''[[née]]'' '''Rajadhyaksha''', formerly '''Kilachand'''; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction,<ref name="Khan 2007">{{cite news |last1=Khan |first1=Urmee |title=Hooray for Bollywood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/04/india.gender |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=May 4, 2007}}</ref> for which she has been referred to as the "[[Jackie Collins]] of India."<ref name="Fineman 1992"/><ref name="ABC 2013">{{cite news |last1=Betigeri |first1=Aarti |title=Meet India's Jackie Collins, Shobhaa De |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/booksandarts/meet-india27s-jackie-collins2c-shohba-de/4524476 |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Australia]] |date=18 February 2013}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Shobhaa De was born on 7 January 1948<ref name="Dasgupta 2018">{{cite news |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Shougat |title=That Shobhaa De show: Godmother of Indian chatterati embraces her 70s with new book |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/leisure/story/20180122-shobhaa-de-new-book-seventy-and-to-hell-with-it-1131363-2018-01-10 |access-date=8 February 2020 |work=India Today |date=January 10, 2018 |language=en}}</ref> in [[Mumbai]] into a [[Marathi language|Marathi]] [[Marathi Brahmin|Brahmin]] family.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nandgaonkar |first1=Satish |last2=Rashid |first2=Omar |title=My DNA is 100% Maharashtrian, says Shobhaa De |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/shobhaa-de-interview-on-shiv-sena-scandal/article7099528.ece |access-date=13 August 2019 |work=The Hindu |date=14 April 2015 |language=en-IN}}</ref> Her father was a district court judge, and her mother was a home-maker.<ref name="Khan 2007" /> The youngest of four siblings, she has two sisters and a brother.<ref name="Fineman 1992">{{cite news |last1=Fineman |first1=Mark |title='The Jackie Collins of India' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-01-vw-221-story.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1 April 1992}}</ref>

Shobha grew up in Mumbai, where she attended [[Queen Mary School, Mumbai|Queen Mary School]]. She graduated from [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai|Saint Xavier's College]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sen |first1=Debarati S. |title=My days in Xavier's were the defining years for me: Shobhaa De {{!}} Mumbai News - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/My-days-in-Xaviers-were-the-defining-years-for-me-ShobhaaDe/articleshow/49320836.cms |access-date=12 September 2020 |work=The Times of India |date=12 October 2015 |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
At age 17, she began her career as a model,<ref name="Khan 2007" /> which lasted for five years.<ref name="Sarmmah 2018">{{cite news |last1=Sarmmah |first1=Surupasree |title=Editing script of my life was important: Shobhaa De |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/editing-script-my-own-life-was-700335.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=Deccan Herald |date=October 30, 2018}}</ref> At age 20, she began her career as a journalist, writing "agony aunt" advice columns and features for society magazines.<ref name="Fineman 1992" /> She founded the magazine ''Stardust'' at age 23, which included Bollywood interviews, gossip, and photographs.<ref name="Khan 2007" /><ref name="Dasgupta 2018"/>

In the 1980s, she contributed to the Sunday magazine section of ''[[The Times of India]]''. She has since been a regular columnist for several newspapers.<ref name="Dasgupta 2018"/> She has also written several popular soaps on television.

Ankita Shukla wrote for ''The Times of India'', in 2016, that "unignorable has been Shobhaa De's unabashed description of the womenfolk in her novels. De's women range from traditional, subjugated and marginalized to the extremely modern and liberated women. De's novels take a leaf the urban life and represent realistically an intimate side of urban woman's life, also revealing her plight in the present day society."<ref name="Shukla 2016">{{cite news |last1=Shukla |first1=Ankita |title=Depiction of women in literature through ages |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/depiction-of-women-in-literature-through-ages/articleshow/56084665.cms |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=December 21, 2016}}</ref> In 1992, Mark Fineman of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' described her as "India's hottest-selling English-language novelist," and how her second novel, ''Starry Nights'' (1991), had "a drawing of a nude woman on the front cover," and according to De, "they said it was the first time they’d broken through the ‘F’ barrier, the first time they’d run the F-word without asterisks."<ref name="Fineman 1992" /> Urmee Khan writes for ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2007, "Her books are steeped in a lifetime's observation of Bollywood," and "They describe a side of the country that western audiences rarely encounter, her central themes being power, greed, lust and sex."<ref name="Khan 2007" />

In 2010, De and [[Penguin Books]] created the publishing imprint Shobhaa De Books.<ref name="TOI 2019">{{cite news |title=Shobhaa De, Penguin script new chapter |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Shobhaa-De-Penguin-script-new-chapter/articleshow/5775981.cms |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[The Times of India]] |agency=TNN |date=April 9, 2010}}</ref>

De has also participated in several literary festivals, including the Bangalore Literature Festival,<ref name="Sarmmah 2018"/> having been part of it since its first edition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://svetlanalasrado.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/soak-in-the-cultural-extravaganza-thats-the-bangalore-lit-fest/|title=Soak in the cultural extravaganza that's the Bangalore Lit Fest|date=27 September 2014|access-date=20 December 2019}}</ref>{{better source|date=August 2016}}

==Personal life==
Shobha has married twice and has often said that she is the mother of six children, which includes two stepchildren.<ref name="Fineman 1992" />

Directly after graduation, Shobha married Sudhir Vrajlal Kilachand, of the Kilachand [[Marwari people|Marwadi]] business family. They quickly became the parents of two children, a son, Aditya Kilachand, and a daughter, Avantika.<ref name="Fineman 1992" /> The marriage ended in divorce.

Shobha then married Dilip De, a businessman in the shipping industry, and a [[Bengali people|Bengali]].<ref name="Fineman 1992" /> This was Dilip's second marriage also, and he has two children by his previous marriage. Shobha and Dilip De became the parents of a further two daughters, Arundhati and Anandita.<ref name="Fineman 1992" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bobb |first1=Dilip |title=Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/20050228-shobhaa-de-takes-a-hard-look-at-indian-marriages-in-spouse-787976-2005-02-28 |access-date=10 September 2019 |work=India Today |date=28 February 2005 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Daniel |first1=Vaihayasi P |title='Marriage is becoming like the dinosaur' |url=https://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/feb/14de1.htm?zcc=rl |access-date=31 December 2020 |work=www.rediff.com |date=16 February 2005}}</ref>

==Books==
* ''Srilaaji – Diary of a Marwari Matriarch'', Simon & Schuster (2020)<ref name="Salim 2020">{{cite news |last1=Salim |first1=Lubna |title=The tales of two women |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/the-tales-of-two-women/story-DgC6rxGyE9PloBmUywX8xI.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=Hindustan Times |date=October 25, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Kumar 2020"/>
* ''Lockdown Laisons'' (2020)<ref name="Kumar 2020">{{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Surya Praphulla |title=Shobhaa De on her latest book, Lockdown Liasons |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/shobhaa-de-on-her-latest-book-lockdown-liasons/article32240464.ece |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=July 31, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Ghoshal 2020">{{cite news |last1=Ghoshal |first1=Somak |title=Sex, lies and job loss: Shobhaa De on her weekly lockdown stories |url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/sex-lies-and-job-loss-shobhaa-de-on-her-weekly-lockdown-stories-11592220094527.html |access-date=23 June 2021 |work=Mint |date=15 Jun 2020}}</ref>
* ''Small Betrayals'' − [[Hay House]] India, New Delhi, 2014<ref name="Kumar 2020"/>
* ''Seventy And to Hell with It'' (2017)<ref name="Khandelwal 2017">{{cite news |last1=Khandelwal |first1=Tara |title=70 And To Hell With It, Says Shobhaa De |url=https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/70-hell-says-shobhaa-de/ |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[SheThePeople.TV]] |date=November 9, 2017}}</ref>
* ''Shobhaa: Never a Dull De'' − Hay House India, New Delhi, 2013
* ''Shethji'' −2012<ref name="ABC 2013">{{cite news |last1=Betigeri |first1=Aarti |title=Meet India's Jackie Collins, Shobhaa De |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/booksandarts/meet-india27s-jackie-collins2c-shohba-de/4524476 |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Australia]] |date=18 February 2013}}</ref>
* ''Shobhaa at Sixty'' −Hay House India, New Delhi, 2010
* ''Sandhya's secret'' −2009
* ''Superstar India'' – From Incredible to Unstoppable
* ''Strange Obsession''
* ''Snapshots''
* ''Spouse: The truth about marriage'' (2005)<ref name="Bobb 2005">{{cite news |last1=Bobb |first1=Dilip |title=Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/20050228-shobhaa-de-takes-a-hard-look-at-indian-marriages-in-spouse-787976-2005-02-28 |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=India Today |date=February 28, 2005 |quote=UPDATED: March 22, 2012}}</ref>
* ''[[Speedpost (book)|Speedpost]]'' – Penguin, New Delhi. 1999.<ref name="Bobb 2005"/>
* ''Surviving Men'' – Penguin, New Delhi, 1998<ref name="Bobb 2005"/>
* ''Selective Memory'' – Penguin, New Delhi. 1998.<ref name="Dasgupta 2018"/>
* ''[[Second Thoughts (Shobhaa De novel)|Second Thoughts]]'' – Penguin, New Delhi. 1996.
* ''Small betrayals'' – UBS Publishers' Distributors, 1995
* ''Shooting from the hip'' – UBS, Delhi, 1994.
* ''Sultry Days'' – Penguin, New Delhi. 1994.
* ''Sisters'' – Penguin, New Delhi. 1992.
* ''[[Starry Nights]]'' – 1989, India, Penguin, New Delhi {{ISBN|0-14-012267-2}}, Pub date ? ? 1989, paperback
* ''[[Socialite Evenings]]'' – 1989, India, Penguin, New Delhi {{ISBN|0-14-012267-2}}, Pub date ? ?

==See also==
* [[Indian literature]]
* [[List of Indian writers]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==

* {{Twitter}}
* [http://shobhaade.blogspot.com Shobhaade blogspot]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130103095011/http://latestbookreviews.net/sethji-by-shobhaa-de-book-review-release-date/ Book Review of Shobhaa De's new book titled Sethji]
* [http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/08/13/interview-with-shobhaa-de Interview with Shobhaa De]
* [http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/politically-incorrect/ Times of India Blog]
* {{Cite web|last=De|first=Shobhaa|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/politically-incorrect/how-i-became-india-ki-lady-kamasutra/|title=How I became India Ki Lady Kamasutra|date=3 December 2017|website=Times of India Blog|access-date=20 December 2019}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027095851/http://geocities.com/chinthacn/authors/De-shobha.htm Bhushan's Scholarly Literature Resources - Shobha De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Shobhaa}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Female models from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian socialites]]
[[Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Indian columnists]]
[[Category:Indian women columnists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Women writers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:People from Satara district]]
[[Category:Novelists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]

Shobhaa De - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article