Literary Birthday – 17 September – Thrity Umrigar

Happy Birthday, Thrity Umrigar, born on 17 September 1961.

Thrity Umrigar Quotes

1. I learned early on the power of fiction to transcend national, racial, and class boundaries. After all, that’s the most basic and essential function of literature—it brings us together because it helps us recognize the common humanity that we share.
2. I believe that intentions matter. They matter in life and they matter in writing fiction. If you sincerely want to explore the humanity of a character who happens to be of a different race, that sincerity will shine through. Readers are so awesomely smart.
3. Readers are always so gracious and they write to thank you for the book. What they don’t realise is that there’s nothing more validating for a writer than to make that connection across the miles. One letter or email or comment can make it all worthwhile—the long, lonely hours, the months you spend away from family and friends, the aching hands and sore neck, all of it becomes worth it in that instance.
4. I always share this advice with my writing students: Tell the story of one person so deeply and completely, that in the act of going deep into that one person, something magical happens, and it becomes a universal story.
5. For me as a writer, the most important thing is to get the emotional life of a character right and to make it as true to form as possible

Source for quotes 1-3: Bloom Magazine and 4-5: Book Page

Thrity Umrigar is an Indian-American journalist, critic, and novelist who writes primarily literary fiction. Her novels explore class, gender, cultural identity, family, relationships, and the experiences of people caught between different cultures. She also examines social divisions involving race, caste, religion, and economic inequality. She is the bestselling author of Bombay Time, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, The Weight of Heaven, Missing Sam, The World We Found, The Story Hour, Everybody’s Son, The Secrets Between Us, Honor (a Reese Book Club pick) and The Museum of Failures. She has also written the memoir First Darling of the Morning and three children’s picture books. Her work has been translated into several languages and published in more than 15 countries. Umrigar is a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She has received the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Seth Rosenberg Prize, and was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. Follow her on Instagram.

Source for photograph: Macmillan Publishers

by Amanda Patterson
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