Gita Hariharan

Gita Hariharan (1954-), was born in Coimbatore  grew up in Bombay and Manila. She continued her studies in the US and worked with public television there. Returning to India in 1979, she has worked in Bombay, Madras and New Delhi, initially as an editor in a publishing house, and later as a free lance. She is married with two sons, and lives in New Delhi. Her first book The Thousand Faces of Night won the Commonwealth Prize for the best first novel. She says "I've used myths to help examine contemporary women's lives - to suggest that they might help us to understand these lives, which on the surface seem rather placid and devoid of event".

In response to a lawsuit by Githa Hariharan, the Indian Supreme Court decided in 2000 that the mother was also the natural legal guardian of a child. The same clause was also challenged by Vandana Shiva, whose husband had claimed custody of their child during divorce proceedings on the grounds that he is the natural guardian.

She was educated in these two cities and later in the United States. She worked as a staff writer in the Public Broadcasting System in New York, and since 1979, she has worked in Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi, first as an editor in a publishing house, then as a freelancer.

Gita Hariharan won the Commonwealth's Best First Book Award in 1993.

Works

• The Thousand Faces of Night
• The Art of Dying
• The Ghosts of  Vasu Master
• A Southern Harvest
• In Times of Siege

Works