Siddharth Shanghvi

Born in Juhu, Mumbai, to a Gujarati Sanghvi family,{{cite news|title=Siddharth Shanghvi on sex and his city|url=http://specials.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/25slide1-siddharth-shanghvi-on-sex-and-his-city.htm|work=Rediff.com|date=2009-02-25}} Siddharth's father is businessman, while his grandfather, Arvind Vasavada, was a psychoanalyst and Jungian scholar.{{cite news |title=It took a bad move and then a broken heart before 'a bloody reject' would release 'Last Song of Dusk.' Now he's a literary rock star |url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/26/SIDDHARTH.TMP|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=26 June 2006 | first=Edward | last=Guthmann}}

He pursued his MA in International Journalism at the University of Westminster, London, where he specialised in Photography in 1999.{{cite news |title=Never Too Young |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=38971&pn |work=The Indian Express|date=11 January 2004 }} His second masters, in mass communications, was from San Jose State University (MS, Distinction).

He wrote his first book, The Last Song of Dusk, at 22, but dropped it when the agent suggested some changes were required. He then moved to Northern California, having an aunt and uncle in Berkeley, and enrolled in a master's degree in mass communications at San Jose State University. He graduated in 2002 and the book was finally published in 2004.{{cite news |title=Difficult Loves: First Novel Heavy on Sorrow and Scandal|url=http://www.sfstation.com/the-last-song-of-dusk-by-siddharth-dhanvant-shanghvi-a962 |publisher=SF Station |date=20 January 2005 }}{{cite news |title=IN THE HEART OF SADNESS |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050204/asp/opinion/story_4323861.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125203441/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050204/asp/opinion/story_4323861.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2005 |publisher=The Telegraph (Kolkata) |date=4 February 2005}}

Shanghvi has been compared to Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth in his writing styles, especially for using settings of magical realism, and themes such as karma, love, and sexuality extensively in The Last Song of Dusk.{{cite web |title=Q&A with Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi |url=http://www.verveonline.com/29/life/qna/excerpt.shtml |volume=12 |issue=3 |date=2004 |publisher=Verve |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323185708/http://www.verveonline.com/29/life/qna/excerpt.shtml |archivedate=23 March 2010}}{{cite news |title=Succumbing to temptation |url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/04/13/stories/2009041350860300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107175847/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/04/13/stories/2009041350860300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 November 2012 |work=The Hindu |date=13 April 2009 |location=Chennai, India}} His essay, Hello, Darling, appeared in 2008 anthology, AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories From India.{{cite news |title=Siddharth Shanghvi writes on AIDS in India|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Siddharth-Shanghvi-writes-on-AIDS-in-India-3267456.php |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=1 October 2008 }}

His second book, The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay (2009) which had events taken from the Jessica Lall murder case,{{cite news |title=Famous Last Words |url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/famous-last-words/428954/ |work=The Indian Express|date=28 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003154108/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/famous-last-words/428954/ |archivedate=3 October 2012}} received mixed reviews.{{cite news |title=Mumbai in hyperbole: Self-indulgence, clichés and a wild prose style mar this novel set in maximum city |url=http://www.livemint.com/2009/02/27204818/Mumbai-in-hyperbole.html |publisher=Live Mint |date=27 February 2009 }} His third book, The Rabbit & The Squirrel (2018) with illustrations by Stina Wirsen was described by the Hindustan Times as an 'instant classic'. His acclaimed first work of non-fiction, Loss (HarperCollins | 2020), is a collection of essays that chart an intimate landscape of death, grief, and healing.

After his father was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, Shanghvi turned to photography.{{cite news|title=Black & White silences|url=http://www.mid-day.com/specials/2011/feb/300111-siddharth-dhanvant-shangvi-black-and-white-photo-album.htm|accessdate=3 January 2012|newspaper=Mid Day|date=1 February 2011|author=Lalitha Suhasini}} His photography series The House Next Door, opened at Galleri Kontrast in Stockholm in 2010. In early 2011 it was shown at the Matthieu Foss Gallery, Bombay and later at Delhi's eponymous Vadehra Art Gallery. Referring to this body of work Salman Rushdie said, "These pictures touched me deeply. They are at once intimate and clear-sightedly objective, precise and affectionate. The quietness of their world is the silence of memory and sorrow, but there is, too, considerable artistry in the composition, and a joy taken in detail, and character, and place."{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

• Last Song of Dusk, Penguin India, 2004. {{ISBN|0-14-303341-7}}.
• Hello, Darling, AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories From India (2008)
• The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, Penguin India, 2009. {{ISBN|0-670-08175-2}}.
• The Rabbit & the Squirrel, Penguin India, 2018. {{ISBN|9780670091744}}.
• Loss, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2020. {{ISBN|9789353575984}}.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?228700 The Same Difference, Just Chill by Siddharth Shanghvi ] at Outlook

• [http://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/2009/feb/240209-Siddharth-Dhanvant-Shanghvi-authors-books-The-Lost-Flamingoes-of-Bombay-Homosexuality-People.htm Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi Interview (2009)] at MiD DAY

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Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:English-language writers from India

Category:Writers from Mumbai

Category:Alumni of the University of Westminster

Category:San Jose State University alumni

Category:Gujarati writers