Anita Desai

Anita Desai (India)

Born and raised in India, Anita Desai is the author of many novels and short stories, including In Custody, which was made into film. Desai, who has three times been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, received many awards for her work, including the Winnifrid Holtby Memorial Prize, a Sahitya Academy Award for her novel Fire on the Mountain, The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for The Village by the Sea, the Ribalow Prize for Baumgartner’s Bombay, the Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature, and the Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature, of which she is a fellow. In 2014 she was awarded the Padma Bushan, one of India’s highest awards. She now lives in the United States and is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.

The novelists Anita Desai and her daughter Kiran Desai are staying in Mishkenot Sha’ananim throughout May as part of the Marie Residency. The Marie Residency is a tribute to the life of Marie Brandolini (7.04.1963-30.05.2013), the daughter of Béatrice Rosenberg de Rothschild. Marie was an accomplished artist, well known as a glass designer working in Murano. Her love and appreciation for literature crossed genres and cultures distinctions. Marie made her home in Venice, but visited Jerusalem and appreciated its importance to her family. The Marie Residency brings a writer to these two cities for an extended period – with time to work, give public lectures, and experience each city. Anita and Kiran Desai are the first writers participating in the program.