Devapriya Roy
{{short description|Indian author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Devapriya Roy
| image = Devapriya Roy.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 24 May
| birth_place = Kolkata
| death_date =
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| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| known_for =
| spouse = Saurav Jha
| occupation = Author
}}
Devapriya Roy is an Indian author best known for her books, Friends from College, Indira and The Heat and Dust Project. She lives in New Delhi with her husband Saurav Jha.
Early life and education
Roy was born in Calcutta and studied in Calcutta Girl's High School.
She earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree in English literature from Presidency College and Jawaharlal Nehru University respectively. She obtained a PhD on Bharata’s Natyashastra from Jawaharlal Nehru University under the supervision of award-winning poet and playwright H.S. Shivaprakash, and her co-supervisor was Prof Katia Legeret of the University of Paris VIII.{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/808961/how-the-natyashastra-was-born-and-the-inevitable-disruption-of-early-performances|title=How the Natyashastra was born|publisher=Scroll.in}}
Career
Roy began her career with The Vague Woman’s Handbook, a quirky novel that was published by HarperCollins{{Cite web |url=http://harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=2735 |title=HarperCollins Publishers India Ltd |access-date=4 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822003235/http://www.harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=2735 |archive-date=22 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/crystal-clear/271817|title=Crystal Clear|website=www.outlookindia.com/|date=5 February 2022 }} in March 2011 and subsequently appeared on the India Today Bestseller List.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/leisure/story/20111226-bestsellers-for-december-2011-750101-2011-12-21|title=Bestsellers for December 2011|date=December 21, 2011|website=India Today}}
Her second book was The Weight Loss Club: The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative, yet another quirky novel published by Rupa & Co.{{Cite web |url=http://www.rupapublications.co.in/books/weight-loss-club-curious-experiments-nancy-housing-cooperative |title=The Weight Loss Club: The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative | Rupa Publications |access-date=14 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817000731/http://rupapublications.co.in/books/weight-loss-club-curious-experiments-nancy-housing-cooperative |archive-date=17 August 2013 |url-status=dead }} in July 2013.
Her 2015 book, The Heat and Dust Project{{cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/discovery-of-india/633839|title=Discovery of India - Indian Express|website=archive.indianexpress.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archive/|title=Archive News|website=The Hindu}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/archive-news/|title=Hindustan Times - Archive News|website=www.hindustantimes.com/}}{{cite web|url=http://www.theweekendleader.com/Relationship/451/discovery-of-india.html|title=Discovery of India|website=www.theweekendleader.com}} (written along with husband Saurav Jha) chronicles the story of travelling through India on local buses "on a very very tight budget" which debuted at no.1 on the Hindustan Times-AC Nielsen list and also got excellent reviews.{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/on-a-bus-to-bharat/|title=On a Bus to Bharat: A wife-husband team take off on a wanderjahr|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=20 July 2015|first=Jaideep|last=Unudurti|accessdate=27 October 2018}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/Book-Review-The-Heat-and-Dust-Project/articleshow/49857022.cms|title=Book Review : The Heat and Dust Project|work=The Times of India|date=19 December 2017 }} The Heat and Dust Project is also a first-of-its-kind dynamic book as the couple used Facebook to document their journey even as it was underway.{{cite web|url=http://www.nileguide.com/blog/2010/06/21/inspired-by-india-couple-uses-facebook-to-guide-their-journey-writes-book/|title=Inspired by India: Couple Uses Facebook To Guide Their Journey, Write Book|publisher=|access-date=19 December 2018|archive-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027191155/http://www.nileguide.com/blog/2010/06/21/inspired-by-india-couple-uses-facebook-to-guide-their-journey-writes-book/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.103354016376748&ref=mf|title=Photos/Videos of the heat and dust project: a book in motion - Facebook|website=www.facebook.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.zitzsolutions.com/2010/09/03/6-unconventional-uses-of-facebook-881|title=6 unconventional uses of Facebook!|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903034234/http://www.zitzsolutions.com/2010/09/03/6-unconventional-uses-of-facebook-881/|archive-date=3 September 2012|url-status=dead}}
A teaser for the sequel of The Heat and Dust Project, called Man. Woman. Road., was published in Indian Express recently.{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/destination-of-the-week/on-a-rs-500-a-day-budget-a-couple-sets-out-to-see-india-orchha-madhya-pradesh-travel-4443592|title=You Are Rich, When The Story is Your Currency |date=25 December 2016 |publisher=The Indian Express}}
In 2017, Roy authored a graphic biography of Indira Gandhi, Indira, with artist Priya Kuriyan{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/article/864852/what-will-westlands-new-politically-engaged-literary-imprint-bring-ask-publisher-karthika-vk|title=What will Westland's new politically-engaged literary imprint bring? Ask publisher Karthika VK|last=Gill|first=Harsimran|work=Scroll.in|access-date=2018-06-17|language=en-US}} – a unique book about a young student, Indira Thapa (named after Indira Gandhi), who is set an unusual assignment by her favourite teacher: to write an essay around her name. The book, published by Westland's imprint, Contxt, alternates between chapters of fictional prose and graphic biography.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/read/reviewing-indira-the-legend-and-the-life/article23694974.ece|title=Indira, the legend and the life|work=@businessline|access-date=2018-06-14|language=en}}
In June 2018, she started the publication of a serialised novel, The Romantics of College Street, in The Telegraph India.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/helen-of-troy-236592#.Wxy2_JOOVSc.whatsapp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617215933/https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/helen-of-troy-236592#.Wxy2_JOOVSc.whatsapp|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2018|title=Helen of Troy|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2018-06-14|language=en}} It was then consolidated as a book, and published by Westland under the title [https://www.amazon.in/Friends-College-Devapriya-Roy/dp/9388754077/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=friends+from+college&qid=1560781237&s=books&sr=1-1 Friends from College] a year later. A love letter to College Street in Calcutta, it follows various characters returning to Calcutta more than twenty years after college.
References
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Category:English-language writers from India
Category:Indian women novelists
Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
Category:Women writers from West Bengal