Bapsi Sidhwa
Writer
Bapsi Sidhwa is one of Pakistan's most eminent writers. She has produced English novels that reflect her personal experience of the Indian subcontinent's Partition, abuse against women, immigration to the US, and membership in the Parsi/Zoroastrian community. Born on August 11, 1938 in Karachi, and migrating shortly thereafter to Lahore, Bapsi Sidhwa witnessed the bloody Partition of the Indian Subcontinent as a young child in 1947. Growing up with polio, she was educated at home until age 15, reading extensively. She then went on to receive a BA from Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore. At nineteen, Sidhwa had married and soon after gave birth to the first of her three children. The responsibilities of a family led her to set aside her literary prowess for some time. However, she remained an active women's rights spokesperson, representing Pakistan in the Asian Women's Congress of 1975.
After receiving countless rejections for her first and second novels, The Bride and The Crow Eaters, she decided to publish The Crow Eaters in Pakistan privately. Though the experience was one she says, "I would not wish on anyone," it marks the beginning of her literary fame. Since then, she has received numerous awards and honorary professorships for these first two works and her two most recent novels, Cracking India and An American Brat.
Bapsi, who was on the advisory committee to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Women's Development has taught at Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, Southampton University, and Brandeis University. She now lives in Houston Texas and teaches at St. Thomas University, Rice University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas.
AWARDS and RECOGNITION:
Bapsie was awarded Pakistan National honors of the Patras Bokhari award for The Bride in 1985 and the highest honor in the arts, the Sitari-I-Imtiaz in 1991.
A Bunting Fellowship from Harvard and a National Endowment of the Arts grant in 1986 and 1987 supported the completion of her third novel Cracking India, that was also awarded the German Literatureprei, a nomination for Notable Book of the Year from the American Library Association, and was mentioned as a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year," all in 1991. She was also awarded a $100,000 grant as the recipient of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award in 1993. Cracking India (a Quality Paperback Book Club selection) was also made into the film Earth by Canadian director Deepa Mehta.
Her latest novel Water is based on Mehta’s film of the same name.
Bapsie’s play, An American Brat, was produced by Stages Repertory Theater in Houston March 2007. It played to full houses and received critical acclaim. Her play, Sock’em With Honey , played in London in 2003.
Her novels: (Water, An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride, and The Crow Eaters) have been translated and published in several languages. Her most recent publication is an anthology: City of Sin and Splendour [aka] Beloved City.: Writings on Lahore, which was published in 2006.
You can check out more details at her website:
www.bapsisidhwa.com
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