Mimi Mondal
{{Short description|Indian-American speculative fiction writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mimi Mondal
| image = Mimi1UWM.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Monidipa Mondal
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Kolkata, India
| citizenship = Indian
| education = {{ubl|Jadavpur University|University of Stirling|Clarion West Writers Workshop|Rutgers University}}
| spouse =
| children =
| website = {{Official URL}}
| height =
| module =
}}
Monidipa "Mimi" Mondal is an Indian speculative fiction writer based in New York.{{cite news |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2018/05/09/interview-mimi-mondal-ssf-writer/ |work= Feminism India |title=Meet Mimi Mondal: India’s First SFF Writer Nominated For A Hugo |date=9 May 2018 |first=Pallavi |last=Varma |accessdate=15 May 2018}} She writes in many genres, including science fiction. Mondal is the co-editor of Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, an anthology of letters and essays, which received a Locus Award in 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://locusmag.com/2018/06/2018-locus-awards-winners/|title=2018 Locus Awards Winners|work=Locus Online|access-date=2018-09-08|language=en-US}} It has been nominated for a 2018 Hugo Award,{{cite web|title=To the stars and beyond: A conversation with Hugo Award nominee Mimi Mondal|url=https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/conversation-hugo-award-nominee-mimi-mondal/ |date=8 April 2018 |first=Jessica |last=Xalxo |work=She the People TV |accessdate=11 May 2018}}{{cite news |last=Sharma |first=Swati |date=22 April 2018 |title=Hugo Nomination for Indian Writer |work=Deccan Chronicle |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/sunday-chronicle/shelf-life/220418/hugo-nomination-for-indian-writer.html |url-status=dead |accessdate=11 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422025138/https://www.deccanchronicle.com/sunday-chronicle/shelf-life/220418/hugo-nomination-for-indian-writer.html |archive-date=22 April 2018}} and the William Atheling Jr. Award.{{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2018/04/2018-ditmar-award-winners/ |work=Locus |title=2018 Ditmar Award Winners |date=2 April 2018 |accessdate=15 May 2018}} Mondal is the first writer from India to have been nominated for the Hugo Award.
Early life
Mondal was born and raised in Kolkata, where her father worked as a West Bengal Civil Services (WBCS) officer and her mother worked at the State Bank of India. Mondal was given the nickname "Mimi" at birth, "like Bengali children usually are," she says in a roundtable interview.{{cite web|url=http://mithilareview.com/woc_roundtable_09_17/ |title=Women of Color in Speculative Fiction: A Round Table Discussion |work=Mithila Review |first=Isha |last=Karki |date=11 April 2018|access-date=15 May 2018}} From 2015 onwards she has primarily published as "Mimi Mondal" rather than "Monidipa Mondal".{{cite web |title=Summary Bibliography: Mimi Mondal |url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?217971 |website=Internet Science Fiction Database |accessdate=26 July 2018}}
Mondal states in an online essay that her two first languages were Bengali and English. She later learned Hindi, Old English, and small amounts of several other languages.{{cite web| url=https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/on-translating-the-stories-yet-unwritten-a-dalit-perspective-from-india |title=On Translating the Stories Yet Unwritten: A Dalit Perspective from India |work=Words Without Borders |first=Mimi |last=Mondal|date=28 October 2017}}
= Education =
Mondal attended Nava Nalanda High School, Calcutta International School, and Jadavpur University,{{cite news |title=Kolkata girl nominated for global sci-fi award |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkata-girl-nominated-for-global-sci-fi-award/articleshow/63636318.cms |accessdate=26 July 2018 |work=The Times of India |date=6 April 2018}} receiving a B.A. in English in 2010 and an M.A. in English in 2012.{{cite web |url=https://rutgers.academia.edu/MonidipaMondal/CurriculumVitae |first=Monidipa |last=Mondal |title=Curriculum Vitae |accessdate=11 May 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
She received the 2013 Commonwealth Shared Scholarship in Publishing Studies and attended the University of Stirling, Scotland,{{cite web |title=MLitt in Publishing Studies |url=https://www.publishing.stir.ac.uk/tag/mlitt-in-publishing-studies/page/2/ |website=University of Stirling |accessdate=26 July 2018}}
from which she received a Master of Letters (MLitt) in Publishing Studies in 2015.{{cite web|title=Mimi Mondal|url=https://uncannymagazine.com/authors/mimi-mondal/|website=Uncanny|accessdate=12 May 2018}}
In 2015, Mondal attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle, US, where she was the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholar. In 2017, she completed her MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University.{{cite web |title=Alumna Mimi Mondal is a Finalist for the Hugo Award|url=https://mfa.camden.rutgers.edu/2018/05/08/alumna-mimi-mondal-is-a-finalist-for-the-hugo-award/ |website=Rutgers University |accessdate=26 July 2018|date=8 May 2018}}
{{blockquote|"I feel like many of us are writing the stories we’d like to see! I would really like to see regional mythology, folklore from India being used in stories.... I would also like to see more traditional performances, and actually uncensored historical research reflected in stories, because so much of Indian history that we know is curated to match the idea of post-British nationalism."}}
Career
Mondal worked as an editor at Penguin India between 2012 and 2013, and as the poetry and reprint editor of Uncanny Magazine between 2017 and 2018.{{cite news |url=http://locusmag.com/2017/06/uncanny-staff-changes/ |work=Locus |title=Uncanny Staff Changes |date=27 June 2017 |accessdate=15 May 2018}} Her work has appeared in such venues as Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Fireside Magazine, The Book Smugglers, Daily Science Fiction, Kindle Magazine, Muse India, Podcastle, and Scroll. Mondal is also a history and publishing scholar with a special interest in South Asian speculative fiction, and wrote a two-part history of South Asian speculative fiction for Tor.com in 2018.{{cite news |url=https://www.tor.com/2018/01/30/a-short-history-of-south-asian-speculative-fiction-part-i/ |work= Tor.com |title=A Short History of South Asian Speculative Fiction: Part I |date=30 January 2018 |first=Mimi |last=Mondal |accessdate=15 May 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.tor.com/2018/02/26/a-short-history-of-south-asian-speculative-fiction-part-ii/ |work= Tor.com |title=A Short History of South Asian Speculative Fiction: Part II |date=26 February 2018 |first=Mimi |last=Mondal |accessdate=15 May 2018}}
= ''Luminescent Threads'' =
Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler is a collection of works by more than 40 writers, issued in honor of the 70th anniversary of Octavia E. Butler's birth. It is Mondal's first book-length work.{{cite web |url=https://scroll.in/latest/874065/delhi-lawyer-gautam-bhatia-dalit-writer-mimi-mondal-nominated-for-2018-hugo-award |work=Scroll |title=Lawyer Gautam Bhatia, writer Mimi Mondal nominated for 2018 Hugo Award |accessdate=11 May 2018|date=1 April 2018}} The anthology was co-edited by Mondal and Alexandra Pierce. It consists of memoirs written as if addressed to Butler personally, mixed with more scholarly essays. The title is derived from Butler's novel Patternmaster.{{cite web |last1=Wolfe|first1=Gary K. |work=Locus |url=http://locusmag.com/2018/01/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-luminescent-threads-connections-to-oc%C2%ADtavia-e-butler-edited-by-alexandra-pierce-mimi-mondal/ |title=Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler edited by Alexandra Pierce & Mimi Mondal |accessdate=12 May 2018|date=14 January 2018}}
Luminescent Threads was nominated for the 2018 Hugo Award in the category of Best Related Work, and received the Locus Award for Best Non-fiction on 22 June 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://locusmag.com/2018/06/2018-locus-awards-winners/|title=2018 Locus Awards Winners|work=Locus Online|access-date=2018-09-08|language=en-US}} It was nominated for a British Fantasy Award.{{Cite news|url=http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/news/british-fantasy-society-british-fantasy-award-2018/|title=British Fantasy Society, British Fantasy Awards 2018|date=2018-07-06|work=The British Fantasy Society|access-date=2018-09-08|language=en-US}} It was also nominated for a 2018 William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism or Review, an Australian Science Fiction Award, being eligible for its Australian editor Pierce and Australian publisher Twelfth Planet Press.
= Game design =
Mondal wrote the Dungeons & Dragons adventure "In the Mists of Manivarsha" in the 2022 anthology Journeys through the Radiant Citadel.{{Cite web |last=Chapman |first=Matt |title=Writer Interview: In the Mists of Manivarsha by Mimi Mondal |url=https://dnd.wizards.com//news/mists-manivarsha-mimi-mondal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919045731/https://dnd.wizards.com/news/mists-manivarsha-mimi-mondal |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 September 2022 |access-date=April 2, 2023 |website=Dungeons & Dragons}}{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Rachel |date=2022-07-21 |title=In pics: Ancient Bengal shines in a new Dungeons & Dragons adventure |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/in-pics-ancient-bengal-shines-in-a-new-dungeons-dragons-adventure-101658422762790.html |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}} Mondal and the other writers on Journeys through the Radiant Citadel were nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in March 2023.{{Cite web |last=Farrell |first=Rebecca Gomez |date=March 7, 2023 |title=SFWA Names the 58th Nebula Award Finalists |url=https://nebulas.sfwa.org/58th-nebula-awards-finalists/ |access-date=March 8, 2023 |website=Nebula Award |language=en-US |type=Press release}}{{Cite web |last=Templeton |first=Molly |date=2023-03-08 |title=Here Are the 2022 Nebula Award Finalists! |url=https://www.tor.com/2023/03/08/here-are-the-2022-nebula-award-finalists/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Tor.com |language=en-US}}
In 2022, Mondal joined Asmadi Games as a game writer.{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2022 |title=That New Spaceship Smell |url=https://1001-odysseys.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=Project Updates for 1001 Odysseys |publisher=BackerKit |language=en |quote=Our writing crew grew this summer, please welcome Mimi Mondal}}
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Award !Category !Work !Result ! class="unsortable" |{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |
| rowspan="4"|2018
|Non-fiction | rowspan="4"|Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler |{{won}} |
| Hugo Award
|Best Related Work |{{nom}} |
| William Atheling Jr. Award
|Criticism or Review |{{nom}} |
| British Fantasy Award
|Best Non-Fiction |{{nom}} |
| 2019
|"His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light" |{{nom}} |
| 2022
| colspan="2"|A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature |"Twenty-Nine Days Before Remaking the World" |{{won}} |
| 2023
|Nebula Award |Journeys through the Radiant Citadel |{{nom}} |
Bibliography
=Short fiction=
==The Other People series (published anachronistically)==
- Other People (2016){{cite web |title=Mimi Mondal to be Published in Tor.com! |url=http://www.bsfwriters.com/blog/mimi-mondal-to-be-published-in-torcom |website=Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers |accessdate=25 July 2018|date=1 March 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=From "Other People" |url=https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/from-other-people-mimi-mondal |website=Words Without Borders |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- This Sullied Earth, Our Home (2015){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=PodCastle 349: This Sullied Earth, Our Home |url=http://podcastle.org/2015/02/03/podcastle-349-this-sullied-earth-our-home/ |website=The Fantasy Fiction Podcast |accessdate=25 July 2018|date=3 February 2015}}
- The Trees of My Youth Grew Tall{{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=The Trees of My Youth Grew Tall |url=http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/the-trees-of-my-youth-grew-tall/ |website=Strange Horizons |accessdate=25 July 2018}} (2018)
- His Footsteps, through Darkness and Light (2019){{cite web |title=Writings |url=https://mimimondal.com/writings/ |website=Mimi Mondal |accessdate=26 July 2018}}
==Other stories==
- So It Was Foretold (2018){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=So It Was Foretold |url=https://firesidefiction.com/so-it-was-foretold |website=Fireside Magazine |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- Learning to Swim (2017){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=Learning to Swim |url=http://www.anathemamag.com/learning-to-swim/ |website=Anathema: Spec from the Margins |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- And the Final Frontier is Heaven (2015){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=And the Final Frontier is Heaven |url=http://kindlemag.in/and-the-final-frontier-is-heaven/ |website=Kindle |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- Things to Do after They’re Gone (2015){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=Things to Do after They're Gone |url=http://dailysciencefiction.com/hither-and-yon/magic-realism/mimi-mondal/things-to-do-after-theyre-gone |website=Daily Science Fiction |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- The Sea Sings at Night (2015){{cite news |last1=Xalxo |first1=Jessica |title=Mimi Mondal Hugo Award nominee on queer writing, the marginalised and this nomination |url=https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/mimi-mondal-hugo-award-nominee-queer-writing |accessdate=25 July 2018 |date=9 April 2018}}
=Anthology=
=Essays=
- A Short History of South Asian Speculative Fiction, Part I and Part II (2018){{cite web |last1=Yalamanchili |first1=Pavani |title=South Asian Authors Nominated For Science-Fiction & Fantasy Writing Awards |url=http://theaerogram.com/south-asian-authors-nominated-for-science-fiction-fantasy-writing/ |website=The Aerogramme |accessdate=25 July 2018|date=18 March 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Akbar |first1=Prayaag |last2=Mehta |first2=Tashan |last3=Bhatia |first3=Gautam |title=Remaking the Difference: A Discussion about Indian Speculative Fiction |url=http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/remaking-the-difference-a-discussion-about-indian-speculative-fiction/ |website=Strange Horizons |accessdate=25 July 2018|date=30 April 2018}}
- On Translating the Stories Yet Unwritten: A Dalit Perspective from India (2017)
- Missive from a Woman in a Room in a City in a Country in a World Not Her Own (2017){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi |title=Missive from a Woman in a Room in a City in a Country in a World Not Her Own |url=http://uncannymagazine.com/article/missive-woman-room-city-country-world-not/ |website=Uncanny |accessdate=25 July 2018}}
- Characters Are Not A Coloring Book Or, Why the Black Hermione is a Poor Apology for the Ingrained Racism of Harry Potter (2016){{cite web |last1=Mondal |first1=Mimi|title=Characters Are Not A Coloring Book Or, Why the Black Hermione is a Poor Apology for the Ingrained Racism of Harry Potter |url=http://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2016/12/characters-not-coloring-book-black-hermione-poor-apology-ingrained-racism-harry-potter.html |website=The Book Smugglers |accessdate=25 July 2018|date=20 December 2016}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondal, Mimi}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Indian science fiction writers
Category:Indian fantasy writers