Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Height, Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Profession(s)	Poet, Writer, Lecturer
Physical Stats
Height (approx.)	5' 5" (165 cm)
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Awards	1996: America Book Award for her short story Arranged Marriage 1996: PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award for her short story Arranged Marriage 1997: Pushcart Prize for her poem Leaving Yuba City 2003: Pushcart Prize for her novel The Lives of Strangers 2007: Distinguished Writer Award from the South Asian Literary Association 2022: FICCI Fiction Book of the Year for The Last Queen (2021)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	29 July 1956 (Sunday)
Age (as of 2024)	68 Years
Birthplace	Kolkata, West Bengal
Zodiac sign	Leo
Signature
Nationality	American
Hometown	Houston, Texas, United States
College/University	• University of Calcutta, West Bengal • Wright State University, Fairborn, Ohio, United States • University of California, Berkeley
Educational Qualification	• A Bachelor's Degree from the University of Calcutta, West Bengal • A Master's Degree from Wright State University, Fairborn, Ohio, United States • PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley
Religion	Hinduism [1]Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - Instagram
Hobbies	Travelling, Cooking
Social Media	• Instagram • Facebook • Twitter
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	15 February 1979
Family
Husband/Spouse	Murthy
Children	Son(s)- Anand, Abhay
Parents	Father- Rajendra Kumar Banerjee (Accountant) Mother- Tatini Banerjee (School Teacher)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

• Chitra while completing her graduation worked in many odd jobs like a babysitter, a store clerk, and as a bread slicer in a bakery.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s childhood picture with her grandfather

• She worked as a lab assistant at the Wright State University.

• She worked as a dining hall assistant at the International House in Berkeley.

• She is an Indian American author, poet and Betty and Gene McDavid professor of writing at the University of Houston creative writing program.

• She also worked as a teacher at Foothill College and Diablo Valley College.

• She started her career as a poet. Her volume of poetry includes Black candle and leaving Yuba City.

• Some of Chitra’s fictional novels include The Mistress of Spices (1997), Sister of My Heart (1999), Palace of Illusion (2008), Before we visit a Goddess (2016), The Forest of Enchantments (2019), The Last Queen (2021), Independence (2022).

Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni book cover

• Her work has been translated into 30 different languages including Dutch, Hebrew, Bengali, Hungarian, Turkish, Hindi and Japanese.

• She has written novels of various genres like historical fiction, magical realism, realistic fiction and fantasy.

• Her stories have been made into films, plays, dance dramas and performed at operas.

• Her novel Sister of My Heart (1999) was adapted into a Tamil TV series Anbulla Snegithiye aired in India.

• In 2005, her novel The Mistress of Spices was adapted into a film starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Mistress of spices (2005) film poster

• Her book Arranger Marriage: stories (1995) were made into a play and was performed at America and Canada. Her novel palace of illusion (2008) was performed in USA and India.

Arranged Marriage (1995) by Chitra Divakaruni book cover

• In 2015, she was named as the 20 most influential Global Indian Women in the Economics Times.

• Divakaruni’s work has been published in many popular magazines like The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker.

• She supports various NGO’s like Pratham that supports the education of the underprivileged children in India, Akshaya Patra foundation which provides mid-day-meal to the school students.

• She is the founding member and president of Maitri India, a helpline for South Asian women which help the survivors of domestic violence.