Ananda Devi

Devi in 2016

Ananda Devi (born March 23, 1957) is a Mauritian writer.

Biography

Of Andhra Pradesh descent, she was born at Trois-Boutiques, Mauritius. At the age of 15, she won a prize in a Radio France Internationale short story competition. She went on to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she obtained a PhD in Social Anthropology. In 1977, she published a collection of short stories Solstices. After spending several years in Brazzaville in the Congo, she moved to Ferney-Voltaire in 1989, the same year in which her first novel Rue la poudrière was published. This was followed by more novels: Le Voile de Draupadi in 1993, L'Arbre fouet in 1997 and, in 2000, Moi, l'interdite, which received the Prix Radio France du Livre de l'Océan Indien.

Her novel, Eve de ses décombres, won the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie in 2006, as well as several other prizes. It was adapted for the cinema by Sharvan Anenden and Harrikrisna Anenden. In 2007, Devi received the Certificat d'Honneur Maurice Cagnon du Conseil International d'Études Francophones. She has since won other literary prizes, including the Prix du Rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature française of the Académie française. During 2010 she was bestowed with Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

Works

• Solstices, short-story collection (1977)
• Le poids des êtres, short-story collection (1987)
  • English translation of "Lakshmi's Gift" by D.S. Blair in The Heinemann Book of African Women's Writing (1993)
• Rue la Poudrière, novel (1988)
• Le Voile de Draupadi, novel (1993)
• La fin des pierres et des âges, short-story collection (1993)
• L'Arbre-fouet, novel (1997)
• Moi, L'Interdite, novel (2000)
• Pagli, novel (2001)
  • English translation by Ananda Devi (Rupa Publishers, 2007)
• Soupir, novel (2002)
• La Vie de Joséphin le fou, novel (2003)
• Le Long Désir, poetry collection (2003)
• Ève de ses décombres, novel (2006), received the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie, the Prix RFO du livre, and the Prix Télévision Suisse Romande
  • Eve Out of Her Ruins, English translation by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Deep Vellum, 2016; Les Fugitives, 2016; Speaking Tiger, 2017)
• Indian Tango, novel (2007)
  • Indian Tango, English translation by Jean Anderson (Host Publications, 2011; Random House India, 2013)
• Le sari vert, novel (2009), winner of the Prix Louis-Guilloux
• Quand la nuit consent à me parler, poetry collection (2011)
  • When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me, English translation by Kazim Ali (HarperCollins India, 2019)
• Les hommes qui me parlent, autobiographical novel (2011)
• Les Jours vivants, novel (2013)
  • The Living Days, English translation by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Feminist Press, 2019; Les Fugitives, 2019)
• L'ambassadeur triste, short-story collection (2015)
  • English translation of "The Sad Ambassador" by Namrata Poddar published in collaboration with the Asian-American Writers' Workshop (2015)
  • English translation of "The Orchid" by Ananda Devi published as part of the 2015 PEN World Voices Online Anthology (2015)
  • English translation of "Kari Disan" by Jeffrey Zuckerman published as part of Words without Borders' May 2017 issue (2017)
• Ceux du large, trilingual poetry collection (2017)
• L'illusion poétique, short-story collection (2017)
  • English translation of "Weaving Dreams" by Jean Anderson published as part of Words without Borders' May 2012 issue (2012)
• Manger l'autre, novel (2018)

External links

• "Ananda Devi". Île en île. Lehman College. (in French)
• Interview with Ananda Devi at the Los Angeles Review of Books.