Suniti Namjoshi

Suniti Namjoshi (born 1941 in Mumbai, India) is a poet and fabulist. She grew up in India, worked in Canada, and now lives in the southwest of England with English writer Gillian Hanscombe. She has written collections of fables and poetry, novels, and children's books. Her work has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, and Turkish.

Early life Suniti Namjoshi was born in Mumbai in 1941. Her father, Manohar Vinayak Namjoshi, was a senior test pilot at Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore. He died when his plane crashed in 1953. Her mother, Sarojini Namjoshi, née Naik Nimbalkar, was from Phaltan.

Namjoshi was sent to Woodstock School, an American mission school in the Himalayan foothills, and then to Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh.

Career She started working as an officer in the Indian Administrative Service in 1964, before pursuing further education. She earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Missouri and a PhD on Ezra Pound from McGill University.

Namjoshi taught in the Department of English at the University of Toronto from 1972 to 1987. She wrote Feminist Fables in 1981. It has been described as a minor feminist classic and is the work for which Namjoshi is best known. She began writing full-time in 1987, publishing fiction and poetry works. The play Kaliyug - Circles Of Paradise and the poetry collection Flesh And Paper were written in collaboration with Gillian Hanscombe.

In 2023 Namjoshi was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Namjoshi lives and writes in Devon, United Kingdom.

Published works Fiction Feminist Fables. London: Sheba Feminist Press, 1981. The Conversations of Cow. London: The Women's Press, 1985. The Blue Donkey Fables. London: The Women's Press, 1988. The Mothers of Maya Diip. London: The Women's Press, 1989. Because of India: Selected Poems and Fables. London: Onlywomen Press, 1989. Saint Suniti and the Dragon. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 1993. Building Babel. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 1996. Goja: An Autobiographical Myth. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2000. Sycorax: New Fables and Poems. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006. The Fabulous Feminist: A Suniti Namjoshi Reader. Delhi: Zubaan Books, 2012. Suki. Delhi: Penguin India, 2012. Aesop the Fox. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2018. Dangerous Pursuits. Delhi: Zubaan/Penguin, 2022. The Good-Hearted Gardeners. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2023. O Sister Swallow. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2024. Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains. Delhi: Zubaan/Penguin Random House, 2025.

Poetry Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1967. More Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1971. Cyclone In Pakistan. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1971. The Jackass and the Lady. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1980. The Authentic Lie. Fredericton: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1982. From the Bedside Book of Nightmares. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1984. Flesh and Paper (with Gillian Hanscombe). UK: Jezebel Tapes and Books, 1986. Because of India: Selected Poems and Fables. London: Onlywomen Press, 1989. Sycorax: New Fables and Poems. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006. Children's Aditi and the One-Eyed Monkey (illustrated by Hassan Hanife). London: Sheba Feminist Press, 1986. Aditi and the Thames Dragon (illustrated by Bindia Thapar). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2002. Aditi and the Marine Sage (illustrated by Bindia Thapar). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2004. Aditi and the Techno Sage (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2005. Aditi and Her Friends Take on the Vesuvian Giant (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2007. Aditi and Her Friends Meet Grendel (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2007. Aditi and Her Friends Help the Budapest Changeling (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2007. Aditi and Her Friends In Search of Shemeek (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2008. Gardy in the City of Lions (illustrated by Proiti Roy). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2009. Monkeyji and the Word Eater (illustrated by Proiti Roy). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2009. Siril and The Spaceflower (illustrated by Proiti Roy). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2009. Beautiful and the Cyberspace Runaway (illustrated by Proiti Roy). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2009. Blue and Other Stories (illustrated by Nilima Sheikh). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2012. Little i (illustrated by Sayan Mukherjee). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2014. The Boy and Dragon Stories (illustrated by Krishna Bala Shenoi). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2015. Aditi Adventures 13: The Antarctic Mission (illustrated by Shefalee Jain). Chennai: Tulika Publishers, 2020. In the Land Where Beetles Rule (illustrated by Krishna Bala Shenoi). India: Pratham Books, 2022.

Translation Poems of Govindagraj by Ram Ganesh Gadkari. Translated by Suniti Namjoshi and Sarojini Namjoshi. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1968.