R.K. Narayan
1906–2001
The Guide
Creator of Malgudi — the most beloved fictional town in Indian literature. His deceptively simple prose conceals profound observations about human nature and tradition.
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Mulk Raj Anand
1905–2004
Untouchable
The great social realist of Indian English fiction, writing with fierce compassion about sweepers, coolies, and peasants. His debut Untouchable was prefaced by E.M. Forster.
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Arundhati Roy
b. 1961
The God of Small Things
Roy's debut won the Booker Prize and became one of the fastest-selling novels in publishing history — a formally innovative examination of caste and desire in Kerala.
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Amitav Ghosh
b. 1956
The Shadow Lines
One of the finest novelists writing in English today, distinguished by his historical imagination and deep engagement with the Indian Ocean world.
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Jhumpa Lahiri
b. 1967
The Namesake
The defining writer of the Indian-American experience — immigration, identity, and the gap between parents who remember India and children who cannot.
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