Bapsi Sidhwa

Pakistani writer

Bapsi Sidhwa
بیپسی سدھوا
Bapsi Sidhwa at the 2008 Texas Book Festival.
Bapsi Sidhwa at the 2008 Texas Book Festival.
Born (1938-08-11) 11 August 1938 (age 85)
Karachi, Bombay Presidency, British India
OccupationAuthor
NationalityPakistani[1]
Notable awardsSitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the Government of Pakistan (1991)
RelativesMinocher Bhandara (brother)
Isphanyar M. Bhandara (nephew)
Mohur Sidhwa (daughter)

Bapsi Sidhwa (Urdu: بیپسی سدھوا; born 11 August 1938) is a Pakistani[1] novelist of Gujarati Parsi Zoroastrian descent[2] who writes in English and is a resident in the United States.

She is best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" is released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citize Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa" .[3][4][5]

Background

Sidhwa was born to Parsi Zoroastrian parents Peshotan and Tehmina Bhandara in Karachi, Bombay Presidency, and later moved with her family to Lahore, Punjab Province.[6][1] She was two years old when she contracted polio (which has affected her throughout her life) and nine in 1947 at the time of Partition (facts which would shape the character Lenny in her novel Cracking India as well as the background for her novel).[6] She received her BA from Kinnaird College for Women University in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1957.[1][5]

She married at the age of 19[1] and moved to Bombay for five years before she divorced and remarried in Lahore with her present husband Noshir who is also a Zoroastrian. She had three children before beginning her career as an author. One of her children is Mohur Sidhwa,[7] who is a candidate for state representative in Arizona.[8]

She currently resides in Houston in the US. She describes herself as a "Punjabi-Parsi". Her first language is Gujarati, her second language is Urdu, and her third language is English.[9][10] She can read and write best in English, but she is more comfortable talking in Gujarati or Urdu, and often translates literally from Gujarati or Urdu to English.[9]

Teaching

She has previously taught at the University of Houston, Rice University, Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, and Brandeis University.[1]

Awards

  • Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard (1986)[1]
  • Visiting Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation Center, Bellagio, Italy, (1991)
  • Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award, (1991, Pakistan's highest national honor in the arts)[11][1]
  • Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writer's Award (1994)[1]
  • Mondello Prize (Premio Mondello for Foreign Authors) for Water (2007)[1][3]
  • Inducted in the Zoroastrian Hall of Fame (2000)[1]

Works

The city of Lahore, Pakistan, where she was brought up, is central to her four novels below:

  • Their Language of Love : published by Readings Lahore (2013, Pakistan.)
  • Jungle Wala Sahib (Translation) (Urdu) : Published by Readings Lahore (2012, Pakistan)[12]
  • City of Sin and Splendour : Writings on Lahore (2006, US)[1]
  • Water: A Novel (2006, US and Canada)[1][3]
  • Bapsi Sidhwa Omnibus (2001, Pakistan)
  • An American Brat (1993, U.S.; 1995, India)[6][1][3]
  • Cracking India (1991, U.S.; 1992, India; originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988, England)[6][1][3][5]
  • The Bride (1982, England; 1983;1984, India; published as The Pakistani Bride, 1990 US and 2008 US)[1]
  • The Crow Eaters (1978, Pakistan; 1979 &1981, India; 1980, England; 1982, US)[6][1][5][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Bio of Bapsi Sidhwa. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Sharma, Pranay (June 2, 2014). "Those Nights In Nairobi". Outlook (India magazine). Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Bapsi Sidhwa wins Italy's Premio Mondello". Milkweed.org website. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  4. ^ "Bapsi Sidhwa (profile)". ExploreTheirStories.org website. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Shashi Tharoor (October 6, 1991). "Life With Electric-aunt and Slavesister (A review of Bapsi Sidhwa's book)". The New York Times. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Bapsi Sidhwa profile". The Literary Encyclopedia website. July 18, 2002. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Allen, Howard (May 9, 2002). "Worldly Lessons". Tucson Weekly magazine. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  8. ^ "Meet Our Candidates: Mohur Sidhwa for State Representative, LD 9". Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. July 11, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Jussawalla, Feroza F.; Dasenbrock, Reed Way (1992). Interviews with Writers of the Post-colonial World. University Press of Mississippi. p. 214. ISBN 9780878055722.
  10. ^ Deshmukh, Ajay Sahebrao (2014). Ethnic Angst: A Comparative Study of Bapsi Sidhwa & Rohinton Mistry. Partridge Publishing. p. 247. ISBN 9781482841534. Gujarati is the first language of Bapsi Sidhwa and most Parsis.
  11. ^ "Sense of the City: Lahore". BBC News website. July 29, 2003. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Asif Farrukhi (July 14, 2012). "Cover Story: Review of The Crow Eaters in Urdu (includes an interview with Bapsi Sidhwa)". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved November 3, 2021.

External links

  • Literary Encyclopedia
  • Bapsi Sidhwa at IMDb
  • Sense of the City: Lahore (BBC Online article by Bapsi Sidhwa
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Recipients of the Mondello Prize
Single Prize for Literature: Bartolo Cattafi (1975) • Achille Campanile (1976) • Günter Grass (1977)
Special Jury Prize: Denise McSmith (1975) • Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) • Yury Trifonov (1978) • Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) • Pietro Consagra (1980) • Ignazio Buttitta, Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) • Leonardo Sciascia (1985) • Wang Meng (1987) • Mikhail Gorbachev (1988) • Peter Carey, José Donoso, Northrop Frye, Jorge Semprún, Wole Soyinka, Lu Tongliu (1990) • Fernanda Pivano (1992) • Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) • Dong Baoucum, Fan Boaci, Wang Huanbao, Shi Peide, Chen Yuanbin (1995) • Xu Huainzhong, Xiao Xue, Yu Yougqnan, Qin Weinjung (1996) • Khushwant Singh (1997) • Javier Marías (1998) • Francesco Burdin (2001) • Luciano Erba (2002) • Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) • Marina Rullo (2006) • Andrea Ceccherini (2007) • Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) • Francesco Forgione (2010)
First narrative work: Carmelo Samonà (1978) • Fausta Garavini (1979)
First poetic work: Giovanni Giuga (1978) • Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979)
Prize for foreign literature: Milan Kundera (1978) • N. Scott Momaday (1979) • Juan Carlos Onetti (1980) • Tadeusz Konwicki (1981)
Prize for foreign poetry: Jannis Ritsos (1978) • Joseph Brodsky (1979) • Juan Gelman (1980) • Gyula Illyés (1981)
First work: Valerio Magrelli (1980) • Ferruccio Benzoni, Stefano Simoncelli, Walter Valeri, Laura Mancinelli (1981) • Jolanda Insana (1982) • Daniele Del Giudice (1983) • Aldo Busi (1984) • Elisabetta Rasy, Dario Villa (1985) • Marco Lodoli, Angelo Mainardi (1986) • Marco Ceriani, Giovanni Giudice (1987) • Edoardo Albinati, Silvana La Spina (1988) • Andrea Canobbio, Romana Petri (1990) • Anna Cascella (1991) • Marco Caporali, Nelida Milani (1992) • Silvana Grasso, Giulio Mozzi (1993) • Ernesto Franco (1994) • Roberto Deidier (1995) • Giuseppe Quatriglio, Tiziano Scarpa (1996) • Fabrizio Rondolino (1997) • Alba Donati (1998) • Paolo Febbraro (1999) • Evelina Santangelo (2000) • Giuseppe Lupo (2001) • Giovanni Bergamini, Simona Corso (2003) • Adriano Lo Monaco (2004) • Piercarlo Rizzi (2005) • Francesco Fontana (2006) • Paolo Fallai (2007) • Luca Giachi (2008) • Carlo Carabba (2009) • Gabriele Pedullà (2010)
Foreign author: Alain Robbe-Grillet (1982) • Thomas Bernhard (1983) • Adolfo Bioy Casares (1984) • Bernard Malamud (1985) • Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1986) • Doris Lessing (1987) • V. S. Naipaul (1988) • Octavio Paz (1989) • Christa Wolf (1990) • Kurt Vonnegut (1991) • Bohumil Hrabal (1992) • Seamus Heaney (1993) • J. M. Coetzee (1994) • Vladimir Voinovich (1995) • David Grossman (1996) • Philippe Jaccottet (1998) • Don DeLillo (1999) • Aleksandar Tišma (2000) • Nuruddin Farah (2001) • Per Olov Enquist (2002) • Adunis (2003) • Les Murray (2004) • Magda Szabó (2005) • Uwe Timm (2006) • Bapsi Sidhwa (2007) • Viktor Yerofeyev (2009) • Edmund White (2010) • Javier Cercas (2011) • Elizabeth Strout (2012) • Péter Esterházy (2013) • Joe R. Lansdale (2014) • Emmanuel Carrère (2015) • Marilynne Robinson (2016) • Cees Nooteboom (2017)
Italian Author: Alberto Moravia (1982) • Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) • Italo Calvino (1984) • Mario Luzi (1985) • Paolo Volponi (1986) • Luigi Malerba (1987) • Oreste del Buono (1988) • Giovanni Macchia (1989) • Gianni Celati, Emilio Villa (1990) • Andrea Zanzotto (1991) • Ottiero Ottieri (1992) • Attilio Bertolucci (1993) • Luigi Meneghello (1994) • Fernando Bandini, Michele Perriera (1995) • Nico Orengo (1996) • Giuseppe Bonaviri, Giovanni Raboni (1997) • Carlo Ginzburg (1998) • Alessandro Parronchi (1999) • Elio Bartolini (2000) • Roberto Alajmo (2001) • Andrea Camilleri (2002) • Andrea Carraro, Antonio Franchini, Giorgio Pressburger (2003) • Maurizio Bettini, Giorgio Montefoschi, Nelo Risi (2004) • pr. Raffaele Nigro, sec. Maurizio Cucchi, ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) • pr. Paolo Di Stefano, sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) • pr. Mario Fortunato, sec. Toni Maraini, ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) • pr. Andrea Bajani, sec. Antonio Scurati, ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) • pr. Mario Desiati, sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri, ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) • pr. Lorenzo Pavolini, sec. Roberto Cazzola, ter. (2010) • pr. Eugenio Baroncelli, sec. Milo De Angelis, ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) • pr. Edoardo Albinati, sec. Paolo Di Paolo, ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) • pr. Andrea Canobbio, sec. Valerio Magrelli, ter. Walter Siti (2013) • pr. Irene Chias, sec. Giorgio Falco, ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) • pr. Nicola Lagioia, sec. Letizia Muratori, ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) • pr. Marcello Fois, sec. Emanuele Tonon, ter. Romana Petri (2016) • pr. Stefano Massini, sec. Alessandro Zaccuri, ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017)
"Palermo bridge for Europe" Award: Dacia Maraini (1999), Premio Palermo ponte per il Mediterraneo Alberto Arbasino (2000)
"Ignazio Buttitta" Award: Nino De Vita (2003) • Attilio Lolini (2005) • Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006) • Silvia Bre (2007)
Supermondello Tiziano Scarpa (2009) • Michela Murgia (2010) • Eugenio Baroncelli (2011) • Davide Orecchio (2012) • Valerio Magrelli (2013) • Giorgio Falco (2014) • Marco Missiroli (2015) • Romana Petri (2016) • Stefano Massini (2017)
Special award of the President: Ibrahim al-Koni (2009) • Emmanuele Maria Emanuele (2010) • Antonio Calabrò (2011)
Poetry prize: Antonio Riccardi (2010)
Translation Award: Evgenij Solonovic (2010)
Identity and dialectal literatures award: Gialuigi Beccaria e Marco Paolini (2010)
Essays Prize: Marzio Barbagli (2010)
Mondello for Multiculturality Award: Kim Thúy (2011)
Mondello Youths Award: Claudia Durastanti (2011) • Edoardo Albinati (2012) • Alessandro Zaccuri (2017)
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa: Enzo Sellerio (2011)
Prize for Literary Criticism: Salvatore Silvano Nigro (2012) • Maurizio Bettini (2013) • Enrico Testa (2014) • Ermanno Cavazzoni (2015) • Serena Vitale (2016) • Antonio Prete (2017)
Award for best motivation: Simona Gioè (2012)
Special award for travel literature: Marina Valensise (2013)
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello: Gipi (2014)
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