Contemporary Indian Writers and how they can help you improve your English vocabulary
To learn a language, you need to learn new vocabulary. We do hear a lot of new words everyday but too often; it can feel like all those new words just go in one ear and out the other. Isn’t it?
As an online English speaking course in India, we encourage all our students to read as often as possible. Reading books has been a timeless source of knowledge and information. Not only does it help you to reduce stress, but it can also expand your mind and give new ideas.
However, many think that they need advanced language skills to be able to read a book. That’s absolutely wrong! As an online English tutor, I believe you can start taking advantage of this hobby even if you’ve just commenced your English learning journey. The key to success is to choose the right books. Research shows that students who read books regularly, beginning at a young age, gradually develop large vocabularies. If you’re one of those people who don’t make a habit of reading regularly, you might be missing out.
When you are learning English (or any other language) whether by enrolling to online spoken English class or simply through group or private English lessons with an online English teacher, the course in question will deliver all what the curriculum mandates.
Your real journey towards spoken English fluency actually begins once your online English classes conclude. Contrary to what most of our students assume, an online English class is only enabling you with the means to foolproof your language basics, providing with the means and resources to embark on your English communication journey.
The buck does not stop here! The skill to speak and write fluent English for personal or professional is your own responsibility. Even if you join the best online English speaking course, the onus is on you to make the most of the learnings.
It is impossible to express your thoughts without knowing words, therefore having a good vocabulary is of utmost importance. The more words you know, the better you can express yourself. Vocabulary opens up doors to new worlds and makes learning fun and enriching. It is one of the simplest parts of language learning, definitely easier than the complexities of grammar.
Famous Indian writers and their literary treats:
India is the land of religion, culture and literature. We have a history of more than 3,000 years in written literature. Our Indian literature is celebrated throughout the world for its vividness and depth, and comprises excellent writers and their marvelous stories. The stories cover different genres such as romance, comedy, drama, satire, mythology, and many more.
Here are a few Indian writers whose work has defined Indian-English literature.
- R.K. Narayan- Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami (original name of RK Narayan), is one of the exceptional Indian authors of his generation writing in English. His first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), is an episodic narrative describing the adventures of schoolboys. He will always be remembered for the invention of Malgudi, a fictional town in southern India where most of his stories were set. He mostly has depicted the peculiarities of human relationships and the problems of daily life in his novels. His style is marked by wit, humour, elegance, and simplicity.
Some of Narayan’s best novels are The English Teacher (1945), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), and A Tiger for Malgudi (1983). He also published shortened modern prose versions of two Indian epics, The Ramayana (1972) and The Mahabharata (1978). Narayan won many accolades such as Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan, AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature, Padma Vibhushan and many more for his literary work.
- Amitav Ghosh- Amitav Ghosh is a famous name in contemporary literature. His fictional work revolves around the Southeast Asian population dealing with the identity crisis at different levels.
His books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances, The Hungry Tide. His work is recognized internationally for which he received numerous honorary awards. He was awarded with France’s chief literary award, France’s Prix Médicis, for The Circle of Reason, Clarke Award was presented to him for The Calcutta Chromosome, Dan David Prize for Sea of Poppies. He is an accomplished writer whose works are published in more than twenty languages.
- Vikram Seth- Vikram Seth is one of the most celebrated Indian novelists and poets. He has experimented with multiple genres in writing. He started his writing career with poetry.
After poetry and travel writing, he made his literary debut in 1986 with the novel, The Golden Gate. This book won him many accolades from readers as well as critics. He received Sahitya Akademi Award from India’s National Academy of Letters in 1988 for this book. A Suitable Boy, his second novel, won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
- Arundhati Roy- Suzanna Arundhati Roy, is an Indian author, actress, and political activist who is best known for the award-winning novel, "The God of Small Things (1997)" and for her participation in environmental and human rights causes.
Power Politics (2001), The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2002), War Talk (2003), Public Power in the Age of Empire (2004), Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers (2009), Broken Republic: Three Essays (2011), and Capitalism: A Ghost Story (2014) were some of her publications. She is very popular for her novel 'The God of Small Things', which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. She published The Ministry of Utmost Happiness in 2017 which consists of large cast of characters, including a transgender woman and a resistance fighter in Kashmir, to explore contemporary India.
- Khushwant Singh- He is one of the best -known Indian writers of all times.
He published a classic two-volume history of the Sikhs, several novels (the best known of which are Delhi, Train to Pakistan, and The company of women), and a number of translations and non-fiction books on Delhi, nature and current affairs. His book, 'Train To Pakistan' depicts the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. It won him international acclaim and Groove Press Award in 1954. He was the editor of many reputed newspapers and magazines such as The Illustrated Weekly of India, The National Herald and the Hindustan Times. His autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice, was published by Penguin Books in 2002.
- Mulk Raj Anand- He is a prominent Indian author of novels, short stories, and critical essays in English, who is known for portraying the reality of poor society in India.
He gained popularity for his novels Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936), which looked into the problems of poverty in Indian society. His other major works are The Village (1939), The Sword and the Sickle (1942), and The Big Heart (1945; rev. ed. 1980). He also worked on a projected seven-volume autobiographical novel entitled Seven Ages of Man, completing four volumes: Seven Summers (1951), Morning Face (1968), Confession of a Lover (1976), and The Bubble (1984). International Peace Prize, Sahitya Akademi Award, "Padma Bhushan" and Leverhulme Fellowship are some of the awards he received during his literary career.
- Anita Desai- She is an Indian novelist and author of children’s books who excelled in evoking character and mood through visual images through her stories.
She has written many adult and children’s books, notably Fire on the Mountain (1977), for which she received the National Academy of Letters award in India, Clear Light of Day (1980), and The Village by the Sea (1983), which received the Guardian Prize. The novel Fasting, Feasting increased her popularity which was also The 1999 Booker Prize finalist. Amita Desai was also into writing short fiction, and her collections include Games at Twilight, and Other Stories (1978) and Diamond Dust, and Other Stories (2000) and children’s books including The Village by the Sea (1982).
Above is a list of seven writers who are central to the history of Indian Literature. There are many other great writers and novelists from India and of Indian origin in the English language. Keep reading!
Contributed By- Anjana Dutta
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