Timeri N. Murari
Timeri Murari is an Indian novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter. He is the author of fourteen published novels, including best-sellers The Taliban Cricket Club (2012) and Taj (2007), and has written extensively for Indian and international newspapers including The Guardian. He has also written the screenplay of the award-winning Hindi movie Daayraa (1997), which was voted one of the ten best films of 1997 by Time magazine. [1] He adapted and directed it as a stage play, The Square Circle, at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre in November 1999, starring Parminder Nagra.[2] His latest novel is called Chanakya Returns.[3]
Early Years
Murari was born in Madras, India and studied at Bishop Cottons School, Bangalore. He left India for the UK when he was 18 years old to study electronic engineering. He later switched majors to History and Political Science at the McGill University, Montreal. While at university, he began writing for The Guardian and other international newspapers.
His first job was a reporter on the Kingston Whig Standard, in Kingston, Ontario. [4] Murari moved to London, UK, and worked and wrote for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer and other newspapers and magazines before once again shifting base to New York. In the US, Murari wrote film documentaries and contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan among others. He returned to his native Chennai in 1988 and has been living there since.[4]
Novels
Murari's first novel, The Marriage, was published in the UK and India. Since then, he has written 18 books, which have been translated into several languages. Fourteen are works of fiction, including the best sellers Taj, which has been translated into 25 languages, and The Taliban Cricket Club.[5] Two of his novels - Field of Honour and Four Steps from Paradise - are semi-biographical.He has also written a book for children, Children of the Enchanted Jungle. Aleph has published his latest novel, Chanakya Returns (Indian title) in July 2014. His latest work is a Young Adult novel, Axxiss and the Magic Medallions. It is Book one of the Axxiss trilogy. Book Two of the trilogy, The Undersea Kingdom, published October 2016.
Non-fiction
Murari has written four non-fiction books. Two of these are memoirs -- My Temporary Son and Limping to the Centre of the World.
Bibliography
Novels
- Chanakya Returns
- The Taliban Cricket Club
- The Small House
- The Arrangements of Love
- Four Steps From Paradise
- Enduring Affairs
- Last Victory
- Imperial Agent
- Taj, A Novel on Mughal India
- Field of Honour
- The Shooter
- Lovers Are Not People
- The Oblivion Tapes
- The Marriage
Young Adult
1. Children of the Enchanted Jungle.
2. Axxiss Trilogy. The Magic Medallions. (Book one of a trilogy). The Undersea Kingdom. (Book two of the trilogy).
Non-fiction
- My Temporary Son: An Orphan's Journey
- Limping to the Centre of the World: A Pilgrimage to Mount Kailash
- Goin’ Home, a Black Family Returns South
- The New Savages: Children of the Liverpool Streets
Plays
- Enter Queen Lear', starring Jenny Runacre staged in London September 2016. Jenny said: "I do really think it is a fascinating play, with so many levels in it. It is not very often that an actress is given a role that has so much meat in it."
- Square Circle Starring Parminder Nagra.
- Killing Time
- The Attempted Assassination of Salman Rushdie
- Lovers Are Not People
- The Inquisitor
Film/Television
- Daayra (The Square Circle) Writer/Producer.
- The Only Thing
- Only in America (A TV documentary in three parts) Writer.
References
- ^ Palekar, Amol. Quality Gets Topmost Billing: Palekar, Indian Express, 10 September 1998.
- ^ Murari, Tim. The 'Bend It Like Beckham' Girl, The Hindu, 28 July 2002.
- ^ Us Salam, Zia. The Strategist Returns, The Hindu, 5 July 2014.
- ^ a b Rangan, Baradwaj. Write Connections, Baradwaj Rangan Blog, 24 July 2007.
- ^ Badrinath, Tulsi. There Are Bits of me Scattered in These Books, The Hindu, 5 May 2012.