Manil Suri
Encyclopedia
Manil Suri is an India
n-American
mathematician
and writer
, most notable for his first novel, The Death of Vishnu
, which was long-listed for the 2001 Booker Prize, short-listed for the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Barnes & Noble
Discover Prize that year. His latest novel is The Age of Shiva.
), India
, the son of R.L. Suri, a Bollywood
music director
, and a schoolteacher. He attended the University of Bombay before moving to the United States
, where he attended Carnegie Mellon University
. He received a Ph. D. in mathematics in 1983, and became a mathematics professor at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). He still continues to hold this job even though he is more notable as a writer, and has risen through the academic ranks of the university. Suri began writing short stories in the 1980s during his spare time, but none were published. In 1995 he began writing The Death of Vishnu, a novel about social and religious tensions in India taking place in an apartment building in contemporary Mumbai. An excerpt "The Seven Circles" appeared in The New Yorker
and the novel was published in 2001, becoming an international bestseller. Suri received a six-figure advance as a result of a bidding war between publishing houses, ultimately won by W.W. Norton.
According to an interview on the audio book version of the novel, Suri was planning to write a trilogy
of novels with titles featuring the three Hindu
gods Brahma
, Vishnu
and Shiva
. The second book in the trilogy, The Age of Shiva, was published in 2008, with The Birth of Brahma slated as the third. This third novel will now be based on Devi (the Mother Goddess) instead, with the title, The City of Devi. His work contains many allusions to Indian cinema and Hindu mythology. A profile of Suri appears in the January/February 2008 issue of Poets and Writers Magazine which expands on his biography and details the process of getting his work published.
Suri's mathematics research is in the numerical analysis
of partial differential equation
s.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, most notable for his first novel, The Death of Vishnu
The Death of Vishnu
The Death of Vishnu is a novel by Indian-American writer Manil Suri. The book is about the spiritual journey of a dying man named Vishnu living on a landing of a Bombay apartment building, as well as the lives of the residents living in the building. The novel was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner...
, which was long-listed for the 2001 Booker Prize, short-listed for the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Discover Prize that year. His latest novel is The Age of Shiva.
Biography
Suri was born in Bombay (MumbaiMumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
), India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the son of R.L. Suri, a Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
, and a schoolteacher. He attended the University of Bombay before moving to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he attended Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. He received a Ph. D. in mathematics in 1983, and became a mathematics professor at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). He still continues to hold this job even though he is more notable as a writer, and has risen through the academic ranks of the university. Suri began writing short stories in the 1980s during his spare time, but none were published. In 1995 he began writing The Death of Vishnu, a novel about social and religious tensions in India taking place in an apartment building in contemporary Mumbai. An excerpt "The Seven Circles" appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and the novel was published in 2001, becoming an international bestseller. Suri received a six-figure advance as a result of a bidding war between publishing houses, ultimately won by W.W. Norton.
According to an interview on the audio book version of the novel, Suri was planning to write a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of novels with titles featuring the three Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
gods Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
and Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
. The second book in the trilogy, The Age of Shiva, was published in 2008, with The Birth of Brahma slated as the third. This third novel will now be based on Devi (the Mother Goddess) instead, with the title, The City of Devi. His work contains many allusions to Indian cinema and Hindu mythology. A profile of Suri appears in the January/February 2008 issue of Poets and Writers Magazine which expands on his biography and details the process of getting his work published.
Suri's mathematics research is in the numerical analysis
Numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation for the problems of mathematical analysis ....
of partial differential equation
Partial differential equation
In mathematics, partial differential equations are a type of differential equation, i.e., a relation involving an unknown function of several independent variables and their partial derivatives with respect to those variables...
s.
External links
- Personal literary website
- Personal academic website
- Interview with Manil Suri - Feature on Radio France International