7 Intriguing Facts About Jhumpa Lahiri

Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri, known to the world as Jhumpa Lahiri, made her mark with the highly praised 1999 short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. She went on to write novels such as The Lowland and The Namesake, alongside short stories, poetry, translated works, essays, and articles. Her work continues to earn widespread acclaim from critics and readers alike. Here are seven fascinating insights into her life and career.

1. Jhumpa Lahiri’s multicultural heritage shapes her writing.

Born in London on July 11, 1967, to Bengali parents who had migrated from Kolkata, Lahiri moved to Rhode Island with her family at the age of two. In recent years, she has also called Rome and New Jersey home, drawing on her rich international background in her literary works.

Lahiri’s diverse cultural background deeply influences her writing, often exploring the immigrant experience and the complexities of navigating different cultures. According to USA Today, Lahiri drew from her own childhood to depict such an experience in The Namesake. A teacher once mentioned that they found it easier to pronounce her “pet name,” Jhumpa, which is typically reserved for close family and friends, instead of her formal “good name,” Nilanjana Sudeshna. As a result, Jhumpa became the name used for her both publicly and privately.

2. Lahiri boasts three master’s degrees and a Ph.D.

Before embarking on her writing career, Lahiri immersed herself in the world of academia. After earning her B.A. in English literature from Barnard College, she pursued three master’s degrees at Boston University: an M.A. in English, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and an M.A. in Comparative Literature. She later completed a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies, further deepening her academic expertise.

3. A translation course at Boston University was a turning point in her life.

While pursuing graduate studies at Boston University, Lahiri enrolled in a translation seminar with Mary Ann McGrail, sparking her deep passion for the form. This course laid the groundwork for her future literary endeavors, including her own translations of other authors’ works. Her focus on translation at Boston exposed her to a wide array of writers, with one of her “most memorable courses” being studying Kafka alongside Elie Wiesel. Lahiri later reflected, “So much of what I do, think, and care about today can be traced back to the translation seminar.”

4. Journaling has had a profound impact on Lahiri’s growth as a writer.

Lahiri has often said that both the practice of writing in her own diary and reading the diaries of others have been vital to her literary development. She cited the diaries of Virginia Woolf and Anne Frank as particularly influential. In fact, Anne Frank’s diary was the first one Lahiri read, and she mentioned to the LA Review of Books, “I still trace my writing back to her for that reason. I learned so much from her about how to be a writer, about how a writer inhabited life and space and listened to people and just saw things.” Lahiri’s first experience with writing was also through her diary, and she continues to keep one today. She shared, “It remains an enormous anchor in my life, whatever the notebook is at the moment and the pen that’s alongside it. It’s become a laboratory for things that I do.”

5. Lahiri has received some of the most esteemed literary accolades.

Lahiri has earned a remarkable array of awards for her literary contributions. Her honors include the prestigious 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, both for her short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. Additionally, she was shortlisted for both the 2013 Booker Prize and the National Book Award for her second novel, The Lowland.

6. Lahiri has made her mark in both television and film, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Lahiri’s creative work extends beyond literature into the world of television. In 2010, she served as a consultant for an episode of the third season of HBO’s In Treatment, a show revolving around a psychotherapist’s practice. One of the season’s characters is a Bengali man who moves to America after the death of his wife to live with his son and daughter-in-law.

Scriptwriter Adam Rapp shared with The New York Times, “Jhumpa was helpful in setting the foundation of the story and shaping the offstage characters. I consulted her about Bengali cultural practices surrounding death and marriage, and she guided me through scenarios involving a man coming from Calcutta—what he would eat, what he would smoke, what kinds of novels and poetry he might read.”

Lahiri also appeared on screen herself: She made a cameo appearance in the 2006 film adaptation of her first novel The Namesake, directed by Mira Nair, where she played the role of Jhumpa mashi (maternal aunt Jhumpa).

7. She feels more liberated writing in Italian than in English.

Lahiri has shared that Italian—which she developed a passion for after visiting Florence in 1994—has become deeply significant to her. In her book In Other Words, she wrote, “In Italian, I am a tougher, freer writer, who, taking root again, grows in a different way.” In 2018, she wrote a novel in Italian, and she has also translated three novels by Italian author Domenico Starnone into English. Furthermore, Lahiri has penned poetry in Italian, something she hasn’t done in English. Her long-time diary? It’s now in Italian as well.