https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Suniti_NamjoshiSuniti Namjoshi - Revision history2026-10-30T21:52:36ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suniti_Namjoshi&diff=538380&oldid=prevWmltusa: new post2026-03-09T04:56:18Z<p>new post</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian writer (born 1941)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}<br />
{{Infobox writer <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].--><br />
| name = Suniti Namjoshi<br />
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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1941}} <!-- {{birth date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} --><br />
| birth_place = [[Mumbai]], India<br />
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| occupation = Poet, author, educator<br />
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| nationality = Indian-born English<br />
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* [[University of Missouri]] (Master's degree)<br />
* [[McGill University]] (PhD)}}<br />
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'''Suniti Namjoshi''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL}} (born 1941 in [[Mumbai]], [[British India|India]]) is a poet and a [[fable|fabulist]]. She grew up in India, worked in [[Canada]] and at present lives in the southwest of England with English writer [[Gillian Hanscombe]]. Her work is playful, inventive and often challenges prejudices such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. She has written many collections of fables and poetry, several novels, and more than a dozen children's books. Her work has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Hindi and Turkish.<br />
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==Early life==<br />
Suniti Namjoshi was born in [[Mumbai]] in 1941.{{r|PI}} Her father, Manohar Vinayak Namjoshi, was senior test pilot at [[Hindustan Aircraft Limited|Hindustan Aircraft]] in [[Bangalore]]. He was killed when his plane crashed in 1953. Her mother, Sarojini Namjoshi, née Naik Nimbalkar, was from [[Phaltan]].{{r|Univ of Toronto}}<br />
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Suniti was sent to Woodstock, an American mission school in the [[Himalayas|Himalayan foothills]],{{r|Univ of Toronto}} and then to Rishi Valley in [[Andhra Pradesh]]{{r|Hindu}} where [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]] used to come and talk to the children for a couple of months each year.{{r|Univ of Toronto}}<br />
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==Career==<br />
Having passed the IAS in 1964, she worked as an officer in the [[Indian Administrative Service]] before pursuing further education. She studied Public Administration{{r|Hindu}} and earned her [[Master's degree]] from the [[University of Missouri]] and earned a PhD from [[McGill University]] on [[Ezra Pound]].{{r|Hindu}}<br />
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Namjoshi taught in the Department of English at the [[University of Toronto]] from 1972 to 1987.{{r|Univ of Toronto}} She wrote ''Feminist Fables'' in 1981. It was described in ''Feminism, one of her voices'' as a minor feminist classic and the work for which Namjoshi, who the article said produced a "brilliant body of work, marked by sparkling wit, word play and inventive power, emerged", is best known.{{r|Hindu}} She began writing full-time in 1987, publishing fiction and poetry works. ''Kaliyug - Circles Of Paradise'' (play) and ''Flesh And Paper'' (poetry) were written in collaboration Gillian Hanscombe.{{r|Hindu}} Namjoshi has been influenced by [[Virginia Woolf]], [[Adrienne Rich]], her friend Hilary Clare, and [[Kate Millett]]'s ''[[Sexual Politics]]''. She has been active in the [[feminist movement]] and [[gay liberation]] movements.{{r|PI}}<br />
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Namjoshi was Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Women's Studies at [[University of Exeter|Exeter University]] in England from 1995 to 2001, and was a member of the Literary Panel of the Arts Council of England from 1993 to 1996.{{r|Univ of Toronto}}<br />
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In 1996 Namjoshi published ''Building Babel'', a postmodern novel about building cultures, whose story continues online with a collaborative project that enables readers' contributions.{{r|Hindu}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/babelbuildingsite.htm |title=Spinifex Press Babel Building Site<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=19 October 2006 |archive-date=25 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025174005/http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/babelbuildingsite.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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In 2023 Namjoshi was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=2023-07-12 |title=Royal Society of Literature aims to broaden representation as it announces 62 new fellows |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/12/royal-society-of-literature-aims-to-broaden-representation-as-it-announces-62-new-fellows |access-date=2023-07-13 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><br />
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Namjoshi currently lives and writes in [[Devon]], United Kingdom.{{r|Hindu}}<br />
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==Published works==<br />
===Fiction===<br />
*''Feminist Fables''. London: [[Sheba Feminist Publishers]], 1981. {{ISBN|0907179045}}<br />
*''The Conversations of Cow''. London: [[The Women's Press]], 1985. {{ISBN|0704328704}}<br />
*''The Blue Donkey Fables''. London: The Women's Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0704341158}}<br />
*''The Mothers of Maya Diip''. London: The Women's Press, 1989. {{ISBN|9780704342002}}<br />
*''Because of India: Selected Poems and Fables''. London: [[Onlywomen Press]], 1989. {{ISBN|0906500338}}<br />
*''Feminist Fables'', [[Spinifex Press]], North Melbourne, 1993 {{ISBN| 9781875559190}}<br />
*''Saint Suniti and the Dragon''. North Melbourne: Spinifex, 1993; London: [[Virago Press]], 1994. {{ISBN|1 875559 18 3}}<br />
*''Building Babel''. North Melbourne: Spinifex, 1996. {{ISBN|1875559566}}<br />
*''Goja: An Autobiographical Myth''. North Melbourne: Spinifex, 2000. {{ISBN|9781875559978}}<br />
*''Sycorax: New Fables and Poems''. New Delhi: [[Penguin Books]], 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-14-309984-0}}<br />
*''The Fabulous Feminist: A Suniti Namjoshi Reader''. Delhi: [[Zubaan Books]], 2012; North Melbourne: Spinifex, 2012. {{ISBN|9789381017333}} <br />
*''Suki''. Delhi: Penguin India, 2012; North Melbourne: Spinifex, 2013.{{ISBN|9789385932427}} <br />
*''Foxy Aesop'' aka ''Aesop the Fox''. Delhi: Zubaan, 2018; Melbourne: Spinifex, 2018 {{ISBN| 9781925581515}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=Dangerous Pursuits |date=2022 |isbn=978-93-90514-82-3 |last1=Namjoshi |first1=Suniti |publisher=Zubaan and Penguin }}<br />
* ''The Good-Hearted Gardeners''. Melbourne: Spinifex, 2023. {{ISBN|9781922964007}}<br />
* ''O Sister Swallow''. Spinifex: 2024. {{ISBN|9781922964083}}<br />
* ''Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains''. Delhi: Zubaan and [[Penguin Random House]]: 2025. {{ISBN|9788194253396}}<br />
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===Poetry===<br />
*''Poems''. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1967.<br />
*''More Poems''. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1971.<br />
*''Cyclone In Pakistan''. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1971.<br />
*''The Jackass and the Lady''. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1980.<br />
*''The Authentic Lie''. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1982. {{ISBN|0864920105}}<br />
*''From the Bedside Book of Nightmares''. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books & Goose Lane Editions, 1984. {{ISBN|0864920318}}<br />
*''Flesh and Paper'' (with Gillian Hanscombe). UK: Jezebel Tapes and Books, 1986; Charlottetown, P.E.I.: Ragweed Press, 1986. {{ISBN|1870240006}}<br />
*''Because of India: Selected Poems and Fables''. London: Onlywomen Press, 1989. {{ISBN|9780906500330}}<br />
*''Sycorax: New Fables and Poems''. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006. {{ISBN|9780143099840}}<br />
*''The Fabulous Feminist: a Suniti Namjoshi Reader''. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2012. <br />
{{ISBN|9789381017333}}<br />
<br />
===Children's===<br />
*''Aditi and the One-Eyed Monkey''. London: Sheba Feminist Publishers, 1986.<br />
*''Aditi and the Thames Dragon''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2002.<br />
*''Aditi and the Marine Sage''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2004.<br />
*''Aditi and the Techno Sage''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2005.<br />
*''Aditi and Her Friends Take on the Vesuvian Giant''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2007.<br />
*''Aditi and Her Friends Meet Grendel''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2007.<br />
*''Aditi and Her Friends Help the Budapest Changeling''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2007.<br />
*''Aditi and Her Friends In Search of Shemeek''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2008.<br />
*''Gardy in the City of Lions''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2009.<br />
*''Siril and The Spaceflower''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2009.<br />
*''Monkeyji and the Word Eater''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2009.<br />
*''Beautiful and the Cyberspace Runaway''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2009.<br />
*''Blue and Other Stories''. (art work Nilima Sheikh). Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2012; North Melbourne: Spinifex, 2012.<br />
*''Little i''. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2014.<br />
*''The Boy and Dragon Stories'' (pictures Krishna Bala Shenoi). Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2015<br />
*''Aditi Adventures 13: The Antarctic Mission''. Chenna, India: Tulika Publishers, 2020. <br />
*''In the Land Where Beetles Rule''. India: Pratham Books, 2022.<br />
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===Translation===<br />
*''Poems of Govindagraj'' by Ram Ganesh Gadkari. Translated by Suniti Namjoshi and Sarojini Namjoshi. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1968.<br />
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==References==<br />
<references><br />
<br />
<ref name="Hindu">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/02/20/stories/1320129u.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20150320060536/http://www.thehindu.com/2000/02/20/stories/1320129u.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=20 March 2015 | title=Feminism, one of her voices | date=20 February 2000 | work=[[The Hindu]] |accessdate=19 March 2015 }}</ref><br />
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<ref name="PI">{{cite web | url=http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/9964/27/Suniti-Namjoshi | title=Suniti Namjoshi | publisher=Poetry International Rotterdam | accessdate=19 March 2015 | archive-date=27 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227122159/http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/9964/27/Suniti-Namjoshi | url-status=usurped }}</ref><br />
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<ref name="Univ of Toronto">Suniti Namjoshi Papers (Ms. Collection 341) at University of Toronto</ref><br />
<br />
</references><br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* "Subversive Fabulations: The Twofold Pull in Suniti Namjoshi's Feminist Fables" by Sabine Steinisch in ''Engendering Realism and Postmodernism: Contemporary Women Writers in Britain'', ed. Beate Neumeier (Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2001)<br />
* "Tropes of Transition: Words, Memory and the Immigrant Experience" by Michelle Gadpaille in ''Canadiana: Canada in the Sign of Migration and Trans-Culturalism'', eds. Kalus-Dieter Ertler and Martin Löschnigg (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, Europäishcer Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2004)<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Suniti+Namjoshi&fq=&dblist=638&qt=sort&se=$d&sd=desc&qt=sort_$d_desc Works by or about Suniti Namjoshi] in libraries ([[WorldCat]] catalog)<br />
*[http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/zC9Uf7aWUSZp6PuiIyK94N/Suniti-Namjoshi--The-fantastic-fabulist.html Suniti Namjoshi | The fantastic fabulist] ''Mint'' article by Diya Kohli<br />
*[https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/suniti-namjoshi-fashion-your-own-fables-5312142/ Fashion Your Own Fables] ''[[Indian Express]]'' article by Amritta Dutta<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Namjoshi, Suniti}}<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:1941 births]]<br />
[[Category:University of Missouri alumni]]<br />
[[Category:McGill University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto]]<br />
[[Category:Academics of the University of Exeter]]<br />
[[Category:Women writers from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:Lesbian feminists]]<br />
[[Category:Lesbian poets]]<br />
[[Category:Poets from Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:British LGBTQ poets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian LGBTQ poets]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century British writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian fabulists]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]<br />
[[Category:Indian LGBTQ writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women poets]]</div>Wmltusa