Kamala Markandaya

(1924 - 2004)

Born in Mysore, India, Kamala Markandaya studied history at the University of Madras and worked as a journalist before settling in London. Her first published novel, Nectar in a Sieve, became a best seller in 1955. The following year, she said in an interview, “I regret to say I have to be infuriated about something before I write.” She hated being called an “Indian novelist”: “I would prefer to be called just a writer, not a nationality. No critic has ever actually said ‘she writes surprisingly good English for an Indian’—but the subliminal message was there, and duly received.”