1. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

2. Background
• Indian American writer--author of poetry,
short stories, novels, children’s stories.
• Born in Kolkata in 1956, came to US in 1976
for university studies.
• BA Wright State University.
• Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley.
• Married with two children, lives in Houston,
TX.

3. Publications
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Fiction:
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Arranged Marriage: Stories (1995)
The Mistress of Spices (1997)
Sister of My Heart (novel) (1999)
The Unknown Errors of our Lives (stories) (2001)
Neela: Victory Song (novel) (2002)
The Vine of Desire (novel) (2002)
The Conch Bearer (novel) Book One of the Brotherhood of the Conch (2003)
Queen of Dreams (novel) (2004)
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming Book Two of the Brotherhood of the Conch (2005)
The Palace of Illusions: A Novel (2008)
Shadowland: Book Three of the Brotherhood of the Conch (2009)
One Amazing Thing (2010)
Grandma and the Great Gourd, illustrated by Susy Pilgrim Waters, 2012 (children's picture
book)
– Oleander GIRL (2013)

4. Publications
• Poetry:
– The Reason for Nasturtiums (1990)
– Black Candle (1991)
– Leaving Yuba City (1997)
– Indian Movie, New Jersey

5. Awards (selected)
• The American Book Award for ”Arranged
Marriage: Stories”
• The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize and
the Pushcart Prize for poems in ”Leaving Yuba
City: New and Selected Poems”
• Pushcart Prize for "The Lives of Strangers"
• PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary
Award for ”Arranged Marriage: Stories”

6. Work
• “She is centrally concerned with giving shape
to South Asian women’s lives in a gendered
India and United States society” (Aldama).
• Co-founder of Maitri, an organization that
“helps South Asian women facing domestic
violence, emotional abuse, cultural alienation,
human trafficking or family conflict.”

7. Indian Movie, New Jersey
• In the poem under discussion here, “Indian
Movie, New Jersey,” Divakaruni creates a setting
in which the moviegoers are able to lose
themselves in fiction, stop thinking (or at least
speaking) of inequities, racism, and violence, and
entertain thoughts of the “American Dream.”
• Interesting take on familiar theme of
cinema/television and their role in acculturation.
• Physical space of cinema & role of cinematic
narrative are both important.

8. Sources and Links
• Divakaruni, Chitra. Unbraiding Tradition: An Interview with CHITRA
DIVAKARUNI. Frederick Luis Aldama and Chitra Divakaruni. Journal of
South Asian Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1/2, Miscellany (2000), pp. 1-12.
• Divakaruni, Chitra. “Indian Movie, New Jersey.” Unsettling America. Maria
Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan. New York: Penguin Books. 1994. 5354. Print.
• Wikipedia contributors, 'Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni', Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia, 8 July 2013, 09:17 UTC,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chitra_Banerjee_Divakaruni&
oldid=563350823> [accessed 19 September 2013]
• www.maitri.org
• www.chitradivakaruni.com