Here are ten influential Indian women writers:
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is best known for her debut novel The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize in 1997. She is also a prominent political activist and essayist who has written extensively on social justice issues.
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri is an acclaimed short story writer and novelist known for her works exploring the immigrant experience, such as The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. She writes in both English and Italian.
Anita Desai
Anita Desai is a prolific author of novels, children’s books, and short stories. Her works often focus on the inner lives of women and family relationships. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times and won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai, daughter of Anita Desai, is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker Prize in 2006. She was the youngest female author to win the Booker at the time.
Kamala Markandaya
Kamala Markandaya was a prolific novelist known for works like Nectar in a Sieve and A Silence of Desire. Her novels often explored the clash between tradition and modernity in India.
Shashi Deshpande
Shashi Deshpande is a novelist and short story writer who has written extensively about the lives of Indian women. Her works include The Dark Holds No Terrors and That Long Silence, for which she won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Gita Mehta
Gita Mehta is a novelist and non-fiction writer known for works like Raj and A River Sutra. She has also written extensively on Indian politics and culture.
Manju Kapur
Manju Kapur is a novelist whose works include Difficult Daughters, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and Home. Her novels often explore family dynamics and the changing role of women in Indian society.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a poet, novelist, and short story writer known for works like The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart. Her writing often draws on Indian myths and legends.
Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi was a Bengali writer and social activist known for her novels and short stories exploring the lives of tribal communities and the urban poor in India. She won the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honor.
