Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar was born in Ara, Bihar, and grew up in the nearby town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty and delicious mangoes. He is the author of Passport Photos (University of California Press and Penguin-India, 2000) and Bombay-London-New York (Routledge and Penguin-India, 2002). Passport Photos was the winner of an ’Outstanding Book of the Year’ Award from the Myers Program for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. Kumar is currently engaged in a book-project entitled Husband of a Fanatic.
Kumar’s non-fiction and poetry have recently appeared in The Nation, Harper’s, New Statesman, Transition, American Prospect, Toronto Review, Colorlines, Biblio, Outlook, Frontline, India Today, The Hindu, Himal, Herald, The Friday Times, The Times of India, and other publications. He is the author of a book of poems No Tears for the NRI (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1996). In addition to having served as a literary columnist for Tehelka.com, Kumar was also the script-writer and narrator of the prize-winning documentary, Pure Chutney (1997). He has been awarded a Barach Fellowship at the Wesleyan Writers Festival, and two awards from the South Asian Journalists Association. His short-story ’The Monkey’s Suicide’ was chosen by Khushwant Singh as the best short-story of the year for the Asian Age Award. His new short-story ’Indian Restaurant’ has been published in Civil Lines 5. Kumar is also the editor of a volume of writing by Indian expatriate writers, Away (forthcoming from Penguin-India).

In the narrower world of academia, Kumar is the editor of Class Issues (New York University Press, 1997), Poetics/Politics (St Martin’s Press, 1999), and World Bank Literature (University of Minnesota Press, 2002). He serves on the editorial board of Rethinking Marxism, Minnesota Review, and Cultural Logic; he also co-edits the online journal, Politics and Culture. Kumar’s writings have appeared in several anthologies and the following journals: Critical Inquiry, Cultural Studies, Critical Quarterly, College Literature, Race and Class, American Quarterly, Rethinking Marxism, Minnesota Review, Journal of Advanced Composition, Amerasia Journal, and Modern Fiction Studies. He has been awarded fellowships from the NEH, Yale University, SUNY-Stony Brook, Dartmouth College, and University of California-Riverside.
Kumar teaches in the English department at Penn State University.

add to my favorite writers