was born in Calcutta and spent the first
nineteen years of her life in India. She moved to the United States
to
continue her studies, getting a Master's degree from
Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the
University of California at Berkeley, both in English.
For several years she has been interested in issues involving women,
and has worked with Afghani women refugees and women from
dysfunctional families, as well as in shelters for battered
women. Since 1991 she has been president of MAITRI, a South Asian
women's service which she helped found in the San Francisco area.
She has written several books of poetry, and her work has been
included in over 30 anthologies. Her book of short stories,
Arranged Marriage, which has won critical acclaim and the
1996 American Book Award, the Bay Area Book Reviewers and
PEN Oakland awards for fiction. She has two published novels:
The Mistress of Spices and Sister of my Heart.
For twenty years Divakaruni lived in the Bay Area and taught at Foothill College. In 1997 she moved to Texas with her husband and two children, where she taught creative writing at the University of Houston. After a 2-year stay in California, she has returned to Houston with her family.
According to a UH press release, the Mistress of Spices is soon to be made into a major motion picture.
The novel traces Panchaali’s life, beginning with her magical birth in fire as the daughter of a king before following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at the brothers’ sides through years of exile and a terrible civil war. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her stratagems to take over control of her household from her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husband’s most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female voice in a world of warriors, gods, and ever-manipulating hands of fate.
As Rakhi attempts to divine her identity, knowing little of India but drawn inexorably into a sometimes painful history she is only just discovering, her life is shaken by new horrors. In the wake of September 11, she and her friends must deal with dark new complexities about their acculturation. Haunted by nightmares beyond her imagination, she nevertheless finds unexpected blessings: the possibility of new love and understanding for her family.
