Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has mastered many forms of writing- poetry, mythological retellings, essays and stories. Her fiction explores history and magical realism with a strong undercurrent of feminism. It deals largely with the experiences of South Asian women and immigrants. She has written many books among Sister of My Heart, Oleander Girl, Palace of Illusions, and One Amazing Thing. Also, Her books have all been adapted into movies and television dramas. Her short story collection, Arranged Marriage, won the American Book Award in 1995.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s writing focuses on giving a voice to women’s perspectives in Indian Mythology. Her writing sheds new light on the fierce female characters of Indian Scriptures. Feminist women writers such as Mahasweta Devi and Ismat Chughtai influenced have inspired Chitra’s writings.
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The must-read books authored by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni are:
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning and bestselling author, poet, activist and teacher of writing. Her work has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing included in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, O.Henry Prize Stories and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.
Her book of short stories, Arranged Marriage, won an American Book Award, the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award and the PEN Josephine Miles Award for fiction.
She writes prose and poetry encompassing a wide variety of themes, with much focus on the immigrant experience of South Asian women and Indian history, mythology and retellings. She shows the experiences and struggles involved in women trying to find their own identities.She urges women to come out and tell their own stories, re-writing history that has always unfairly glorified men.
In Mythology, she has written the Palace of Illusions and the Forest of Enchantments. A complete list of works can be seen on Good Reads
