Ruth Vanita
Encyclopedia
Ruth Vanita is an 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...

n academic, activist and author who specializes in lesbian and gay studies, gender studies
Gender studies
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...

, British and South Asian literary history
South Asian Literature
The term "South Asian literature" refers to the literary works of writers from the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Countries to which South Asian literature's writers are linked include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal...

.

In 1978 in Delhi, Vanita co-founded Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society
Manushi
Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society is an Indian magazine devoted to feminism as well as to gender studies and activism. It was founded in 1978 by Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita, two scholars based in New Delhi. It is currently published as a bi-monthly; a total of 157 issues have appeared by...

, a journal that combined academic research and grassroots activism. She was also its co-editor from 1979 to 1990. She was a reader at Miranda House
Miranda House
Miranda House , is a highly renowned and distinguished constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. It is widely regarded as a Premier Women's Institution of Delhi University offering degrees in the Sciences and Liberal Arts . Miranda House has demonstrated academic...

, University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

 and in the English Department at the University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

 and now is Professor at the University of Montana. She is the author of several books, and many literary translations. She has also published many articles on Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....

, and Indian literature in journals such as Shakespeare Survey, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Comparative Drama, Postcolonial Studies, GLQ and Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.

Major publications

  • Co-edited with Madhu Kishwar, "In Search of Answers: Indian Women’s Voices from Manushi" (London: Zed Books, 1984, revised edition Horizon Books, Delhi, 1991).
  • Vanita, Ruth, A Play of Light: Selected Poems (Penguin India, 1994)
  • Vanita, Ruth, Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996)
  • Vanita, Ruth and Saleem Kidwai (eds.) (2000) Same-Sex love in India: Readings from Literature and History. London: Palgrave Macmillan. New Delhi: Macmillan. Updated edition forthcoming from Penguin India, 2008. ISBN 0-312-22169-X
  • Vanita, Ruth. Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society (New York: Routledge, 2002)
  • Vanita, Ruth, Love's Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan; New Delhi: Penguin India, 2005)


Translations:
  • Yadav, Rajendra. Strangers on the Roof, translated by Ruth Vanita, Penguin India, 1994
  • Detha, Vijay Dan
    Vijaydan Detha
    Vijaydan Detha also known as Bijji is a noted writer from Rajasthan and a recipient of Padma Shri award. He is also recipient of several other awards such as Sahitya Akademi Award and Sahitya Chudamani Award....

    . Dilemma and Other Stories, translated by Ruth Vanita, Manushi Prakashan, 1997
  • Pandey Bechan Sharma "Ugra," Chocolate and Other Stories on Male-Male Desire, translated with an introduction by Ruth Vanita (New Delhi:Oxford University Press, 2006).
  • The Great Feast (English translation of Mannu Bhandari’s Hindi novel, Mahabhoj) (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2003).
  • Twenty Short Stories by Premchand (forthcoming Penguin India)
  • About Me (Apni Khabar) - Autobiography of Pande Bechan Sharma Ugra (forthcoming Penguin India)
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