Quick Info→
Hometown: New York City Profession: Author Age: 63 Years
| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Profession(s) | • Author • Journalist |
| Physical Stats & More | |
| Height (approx.) | in centimeters– 170 cm in meters– 1.70 m in feet & inches– 5’ 7” |
| Weight (approx.) | in kilograms– 80 kg in pounds– 175 lbs |
| Eye Colour | Dark Brown |
| Hair Colour | Natural Black |
| Career | |
| Debut | Novel: ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’ (2004) |
| Awards, Honours, Achievements | • 1997– The O. Henry Award for ‘Gare du Nord’ published in Harper’s Magazine • 1997– Whiting Writers’ Award • 2005– The Kiriyama Prize for book ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’ • 2005– Crossword Book Award in the category of English Non-Fiction for book ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’ • 2005– Kiriyama Prize and the Hutch Crossword Award for the book ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’ • 2007– Guggenheim Fellowship for his nonfiction work |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | Year, 1963 |
| Age (as of 2023) | 63 Years |
| Birthplace | Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India |
| Signature | |
| Nationality | American |
| Hometown | New York City
Note: After living in Kolkata for five years, Suketu Mehta moved to Bombay in 1968, and migrated to New York in 1977. [1]Suketu Mehta |
| School | Catholic High School, Queens, New York, United States |
| College/University | • New York University, New York, United States • Iowa Writers’ Workshop |
| Educational Qualification | Masters in Fine Arts (Creative writing) [2]AskBooks |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Family | |
| Wife/Spouse | Darshana Narayanan |
| Children | Son– 2 |
| Parents | Father– Ramesh Mehta (Diamond merchant) Mother– Usha Mehta |
| Siblings | Sister– 2 |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Suketu Mehta
- Suketu Mehta is an Indian-American author and journalist who is known for writing novels like ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’ (2004), and ‘This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto’ (2019).
- Suketu has lived in many different places like East Village (East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City), Iowa City (Eastern Iowa, United States), New Jersey (USA), France, and London. [3]Suketu Mehta
- He belongs to a family of mercantile wanderers and jewellers, and his mother was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and he attended college in Bombay (now Mumbai). Suketu’s father had to leave Kolkata because he didn’t like the process and the commercial competition of the jeweller business, which was entirely full of shouting and abuse. In 1968, Suketu’s parents were passing through Bombay when his father’s brother who had already moved to Bombay asked Suketu’s father to stay there with his family. Suketu’s parents decided to stay back in Bombay and started a joint family business of diamond dealing. His father used to visit America often for business purposes and decided to move there with his kids and wife in 1977. [4]Suketu Mehta
Suketu Mehta (centre) with his parents
- When Suketu came to America, he was made to attend a Catholic high school in Queens, New York. He faced a lot of bullying and racial remarks in his school for his accent and his background, and he was once pushed down the stairs by a German-American in the school. [5]Literary Hub On his official website, Suketu Mehta briefed about his experiences as a minority with bullies, and he was quoted saying in an interview,
The teachers called me a pagan. My school yearbook photo shows me looking at the camera with the caption, “It’s so strong I can even skip a day,” referring to an advertising slogan for a brand of antiperspirant. This was how the school saw me: as a stinking heathen, emitting the foul odours of my native cooking.” [6]Suketu Mehta - In 2004, Suketu Mehta published his first nonfiction novel, ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found,’ which was based on his personal experiences of revisiting Mumbai after 21 years of living in America. The novel was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. [7]The Pulitzer Prizes
Suketu Mehta’s first novel titled ‘Maximum City- Bombay Lost and Found’ (2004)
- In the early 2000s, Suketu was appointed as the associate professor of journalism at New York University. [8]The Guardian
- As per his family’s legacy, Suketu’s parents wanted him to join and get into the diamond business; however, his parents were not happy when he told them about his decision to pursue journalism. [9]The Guardian
- On 15 August 2013, the New York Review of Books published an essay written by Suketu Mehta titled ‘In the Violent Favelas of Brazil,’ which was based on the pacification (bringing peace to a place) of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas as part of a government strategy. [10]The New York Review of Books
- In 2019, Suketu published his second novel, ‘This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto,’ which was based on generalised justifications and reasonings of who today’s migrants are, why they are coming, and what economic issues are provoking them to leave their motherland. The novel also emphasises his personal experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York, and this book also speaks against the Donald Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant and nativist propaganda. [11]The New York Times
Suketu Mehta’s second novel titled ‘This Land Is Our Land-An Immigrant’s Manifesto’ (2019)
Suketu Mehta with his book titled ‘This Land Is Our Land- An Immigrant’s Manifesto’ (2019)
- On 7 June 2019, he wrote an op-ed (focused opinion of a writer) titled ‘Why Should Immigrants ‘Respect Our Borders’? The West Never Respected Theirs,’ in the New York Times, focused on Suketu’s forte topic ‘immigrants.’ Apart from this, he has also written many articles for various media houses like GQ, The Guardian, Condé Nast Traveller India, Foreign Policy, and The New York Times’ Sunday Review. [12]Suketu Mehta
- Suketu Mehta consumes alcohol and is often spotted drinking alcoholic beverages with his friends.
Suketu Mehta’s friend’s Instagram post about having dinner together
- Suketu Mehta has been very vocal about his views regarding Donald Trump, and he was quoted saying in an interview,
I was sent to this Catholic high school in Queens with an incredibly racist student body. My chief tormentor was this German-American, much like our president. He once pushed me down the stairs. Trump could have been his father. It is no accident that Trump comes from the most diverse country in the United States.” [13]Literary Hub
References/Sources:[+]
| ↑1, ↑3, ↑4, ↑6 | Suketu Mehta |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | AskBooks |
| ↑5, ↑13 | Literary Hub |
| ↑7 | The Pulitzer Prizes |
| ↑8, ↑9 | The Guardian |
| ↑10 | The New York Review of Books |
| ↑11 | The New York Times |
| ↑12 | Suketu Mehta |