Tania James

Tania James (born 1980) is an Indian American novelist.

Tania James
James at the 2023 Texas Book Festival
Born	1980 (age 43–44) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Harvard University (BA) Columbia University (MFA)
Genre	Novel

Life

She was born in Chicago, Illinois, James was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from Harvard University with a BA in film making. She received her Masters of Fine Arts from Columbia's School of the Arts in 2006.^[1][2]

Her first novel, Atlas of Unknowns (Knopf) was published in April 2009. A family saga that alternates between Kerala, India and New York City. The novel was a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2009 and a New York Times Editor's Choice.^[3] Atlas of Unknowns was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. The foreign rights of Atlas of Unknowns have been sold in eight countries.

Her second book, Aerogrammes (Knopf) was published in May 2012. She has also written a number of short stories "The Other Gandhi" published in Guernica Magazine. "Girl Marries Ghost" a serialized short story in The Louisville Courier-Journal. "Hortense", a short story in Five Chapters.^[4]

James's novel, The Tusk That Did the Damage was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2015. It was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and longlisted for the Financial Times Oppenheimer Fund Emerging Voices Award.

In 2023, Knopf published her book Loot, which begins its tale in India around A.D. 1800. It is a fictional tale about the artists who made Tipu's Sultan Tiger, a famous wooden automaton, shaped as tiger mauling a European soldier. The work of fiction follows a Mysorean wood carver and a French clock maker who created the tiger, and follows them long after Tipu Sultan is killed in a battle with the English. ^[5]

Tania James lives in Washington, D.C. and teaches creative writing at the MFA program at George Mason University.

Works

• Atlas of Unknowns, Knopf, 2009. ISBN 9780307268907
• Aerogrammes, Knopf, 2012. ISBN 9780307957474
• The Tusk That Did the Damage, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015. ISBN 9788184006896^[6]
• Loot, Knopf, 2023. ISBN 9780593535981 ^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

References

1. . Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
2. "Orion Magazine - Tania James". Orion Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
3. "LIT PICKS". Sfgate.com. 26 April 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
4. . Archived from the original on 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
5. "Tippoo's Tiger · V&A". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
6. Boyagoda, Randy (2015-03-06). "'The Tusk That Did the Damage,' by Tania James". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
7. Charles, Ron (2023-06-05). "Review | A mechanical tiger bounds through an epic saga in 'Loot'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
8. Subramanian, Mathangi (2023-05-19). "Novelist Tania James on Writing, Vulnerability and Transformation". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
9. "Tania James Breaks Down Loot, One of the Year's Best Historical Novels". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
10. "'Loot' weaves an epic tale of imperialism, plunder, and autonomy". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
11. "'Loot' explores issues of colonialism, art and plunder in 18th-century India and Europe". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
12. Ermelino |, Louisa. "Tania James's Roaring Tiger of a Novel". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2023-08-30.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tania James.

• taniajames.com
• Interview with National Public Radio