Nayantara Sahgal was born in 1927 into a political family: her uncle,
Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister; her mother was the
country's first ambassador to the U.N.; Indira Gandhi was her
first cousin. She was educated in Lucknow and Wellesly College (BA, 1947).
She served as India's Ambassador to Italy for a short while when Indira
Gandhi was thrown out of power in the elections after the Emergency.
Sahgal's unique upbringing informs both her
fiction and her
political writing, beginning with her memoir Prison and
Chocolate Cake (Alfred A. Knopf, 1954). Her novels, which
are often set against
the backdrop of pivotal events in Indian history,
include A Time to Be Happy; Storm in Chandigarh
(Penguin); A Situation in New Delhi.
Her novels Rich Like Us and Mistaken Identity
are published in the U.S. by New
Directions. Her most recent essay collection
is Point of
View: A Personal Response to Life,
Literature and Politics (Prestige Press,
1997
The
South Asian Literary Recordings Project. MP3 soundfiles of
Nayantara Sahgal reading from her own work.
A page about her at Wellesley Alumni site.
- Nayantara Sahgal's writing:
- Lesser Breeds. Harper Collins, India, 2003.
[Review at the Hindu.]
- Rich like us. A novel. Heinemann, London, 1985.
[Review in the
the Tribune]
- Mistaken Identity. A novel. Heinemann, Londong, 1988.
- A situation in New Delhi. Penguin India, 1989.
- This time of morning. A novel. Kali for women.
[Review in
ChennaiOnline]
- Storm in Chandigarh. Penguin India, 1989.
- Indira Gandhi's emergence and style.
Vikas Pub. House, New Delhi. c1978.
- A voice for freedom
Hind Pocket Books, New Delhi. 1977.
- The day in shadow : a
novel. Vikas
Publications, Delhi. [c1971].
- Sunlight surround you : a birthday
bouquet from Chandralekha Mehta,
Nayantara Sahgal [and] Rita
Dar
Orient Longmans, New Delhi. [1970].
- Indira Gandhi, her road to power.
F.Ungar, New York. c1982.
- A time to be happy Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1958.
- Plans for departure: a novel. Norton,New York. c1985.
- From fear set free Gollancz, London. c1962.
- Prison and chocolate cake. Knopf, New York. 1954.
- Before Freedom: Nehru's letters to his sister (1909-1947)
edited by Nayantara Sahgal.
[Her
brother's sister. Review in Biblio]
- Analysis of her writing
- Nayantara Sahgal and Doris Lessing, a Feminist
Study in Comparison. By Neena Arora.
Prestige
Books
- A
feminist study of Nayantara Sahgal's fiction. An academic paper by
Dr. Asha Choubey.
- This Is No Place for a Woman: Nadine Gordimer, Nayantara Sahgal,
Buchi Emecheta, and the Politics of Gender,
by Joya F. Uraizee. Africa World Press, April 2000.
- Newsclips and interviews
- The road
to Iraq. An essay in Frontline, July 2003.
- Fascism is on the
rise. An interview in The Week, Mar 2003.
Photo from the Library of Congress South Asian Literary Project
Bibliography
- Storm in Chandigarh
(1989)
-
- The day in shadow
(1989)
-
- Plans for departure
(1989)
-
- Indira Gandhi's emergence and style
(1989)
-
- A situation in New Delhi
(1989)
-
- Rich Like Us
Penguin Books (1989)
-
- Prison and Chocolate Cake
(1989)
-
- Mistaken Identity
(1989)
-
