The Crimson Books
10 Best Indian Authors to Read Once in a Lifetime
Discover the literary treasures of India with our curated list of the ‘Best Indian Authors’ to read in 2024. From timeless classics to contemporary masterpieces, explore the diverse voices that have shaped Indian literature. Uncover the brilliance of renowned writers, their impactful storytelling, and the rich cultural tapestry woven into each narrative. Whether you’re a seasoned reader or a newcomer to Indian literature, this blog post is your guide to the must-read works that showcase the depth and beauty of Indian storytelling.
Books by Best Indian Authors
1. train to pakistan.
Ten million people—Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs—were on the move when the new state of Pakistan was publicly established in the summer of 1947. Nearly a million of them had perished by the time the monsoon arrived, and everyone in northern India was either hiding, in fear, or in arms. A few small towns tucked away in the furthest corners of the boundary were the last remaining havens of tranquility. Mano Majra was a village among them.
At the outset of this timeless book, Khushwant Singh continues, “It is a place where Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for hundreds of years.” The community gets its first taste of the horrors of the civil war when the “ghost train,” a silent, magnificent burial train filled with the dead of thousands of refugees, comes one day at the end of the summer. The narrative of this remote community submerged in a sea of religious hatred is told in Train to Pakistan. It also tells the tale of a Muslim girl and a Sikh boy whose love endures and surpasses the devastation caused by conflict.
Amazon | Bookshop.org
2. Midnight’s Children
On August 15, 1947, at exactly midnight, Saleem Sinai was born—the exact day India gained its independence. Saleem is welcomed by fireworks, enthusiastic spectators, and Prime Minister Nehru personally. However, when he becomes older, he discovers the sinister ramifications of this coincidence. His every action is reflected and amplified in circumstances that affect the direction of national affairs; his existence is intrinsically linked to the history of his country; and his health and well-being are inexorably linked to that of his nation. The telepathic abilities that connect him to the 1,000 other “midnight’s children” in India—all of whom were born in that first hour and possess magical abilities—are arguably the most amazing.
This book is a masterful expression of the universal human comedy that is also an intriguing family saga and an astounding evocation of a large region and its people. Even after four decades of publication, Midnight’s Children continues to be regarded as a seminal piece of fiction and a masterful reading by one of the greatest authors of our day.
3. A Suitable Boy
A Suitable Boy paints a broad, panoramic picture of a complicated, multiethnic society in transition by telling the tale of common people entangled in a web of love, ambition, humor, grief, prejudice, reconciliation, the most careful social graces, and the most horrific brutality.
The central theme of Vikram Seth’s book is love: it tells the story of Lata and her mother Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s search for a suitable boy for Lata, whether through strict parental evaluation or affection. This engrossing story immerses us in the vividly imagined world of four sizable extended families during the early 1950s in a newly independent India that is going through a difficult period. It tells a captivating account of their lives and loves.
4. The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things offers such magic, mystery, and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It’s that haunting. —USA Today
Arundhati Roy’s contemporary masterpiece, which has been compared favorably to the writings of Faulkner and Dickens, is a potent blend of political drama, forbidden love story, and dramatic family history. The arrival of their stunning baby cousin, Sophie, completely upends the world of the seven-year-old twins, Rahel and Estha. This incident will reveal “big things [that] lurk unsaid” in a nation teetering perilously near instability, as well as an illegal relationship and unintentional and intentional disasters.
The God of Small Things is a lush, lyrical, and unsettling Booker Prize winning classic that launched the author’s illustrious career of fiction and political criticism, which is still going strong today.
5. Partitions
Stunning debut book about uprooted kids and their escapes to safety, set in India during the bloody 1947 partition. As India is split into two countries, there is communal violence on both sides of the newly drawn boundary, and hordes of migrants are fleeing the chaos and bloodshed.
Twin Hindu boys Shankar and Keshav lose sight of their mother at an overrun rail station and join the throng of people searching for her. Simran Kaur, a young Sikh girl, has fled her father because he would sooner poison his daughter than see her violated.
And as he hobbles toward the newly formed Muslim nation of Pakistan, Ibrahim Masud, an aged Muslim physician, rediscovers his calling as a healer. He was driven from his hometown. This odd trio bands together as the displaced endure a range of tragedies, breaking every self-preservation guideline to create a hopeful future.
Partitions, a dramatic, brilliant tale of families and nations torn apart and rebuilt, presents a remarkable novelist with the power and elegance of a poet.
6. The Henna Artist
Captivated me from the first chapter to the final page. —Reese Witherspoon
The Henna Artist opens a gateway into a world that is simultaneously lush and interesting, stark and merciless. It does this through painting a vivid and captivating portrayal of one woman’s battle for fulfillment in a culture that is veering between the traditional and the modern.
Lakshmi, 17, leaves her violent marriage behind and travels alone to Jaipur, a brilliant pink city from the 1950s. There, she becomes the most sought-after henna artist and confidante among the upper-class, wealthy women. But she can never divulge her own as she is trusted with the wealthiest people’s secrets.
Lakshmi is well-known for her unique designs and wise counsel, but she has to exercise caution to stay away from envious rumors that could destroy her reputation and her business. One day, while she pursues her dream of living a self-sufficient existence, she is shocked to see her husband standing in front of her after all these years, bringing along a lively little girl who is her sister, a sister Lakshmi never knew she had.
All of a sudden, the prudence she has painstakingly cultivated as defense is called into question. She continues to persevere, using her gifts and encouraging everyone around her in the process.
7. Inglorious Empire
India’s economic contribution to the global economy was equal to that of Europe in the eighteenth century. After 200 years of British domination, by 1947, it had dropped six times. In addition to enslaving people and using deceit, the Empire also slaughtered defenseless protestors, blew up rebels with cannons, institutionalized bigotry, and starved millions of people.
Shashi Tharoor challenges British imperialism’s justification of itself as enlightened tyranny serving the interests of the governed by showing how every purported imperial “gift,” including the rule of law and the railways, was created only with Britain’s interests in mind.
He continues by demonstrating how India’s deindustrialization and the devastation of its textile sector served as the impetus for Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Tharoor uncovers the disgraceful truth of Britain’s tarnished Indian heritage with striking effect in this audacious and perceptive reevaluation of colonialism.
8. Annihilation of Caste
The political essay “Annihilation of Caste,” written by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a well-known political figure, eminent jurist, Buddhist activist, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, orator, writer, economist, scholar, and editor, was first published in May 1936 and spoke out against the caste system and Hindu orthodox religious leaders.
Throughout his life, Dr. Ambedkar battled for the rights of the Dalits and other socially oppressed groups, as well as the abolition of societal evils like untouchability. Jawaharlal Nehru chose Dr. Ambedkar as India’s first Law Minister in his Cabinet. 1990 saw the posthumous awarding of India’s highest civilian accolade, the “Bharat Ratna.”
One of the most important—yet little-known—pieces of Indian political literature is this one. It is a fearless critique of Hinduism and the caste structure. Ambedkar provides an academic analysis of Hindu texts, which support a rigidly hierarchical and immoral societal structure. Mahatma Gandhi, the most well-known Hindu in the world, openly addressed the provocation.
9. The Night Diary
A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults. -Kirkus, starred review
A moving, intimate, and hopeful story of India’s partition and one girl’s quest to find a new home in a split nation, in the style of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life.
1947 saw the division of India, which had just gained independence from British domination, into Pakistan and India. Thousands of people are killed crossing borders each year as a result of the division that has heightened tensions between Muslims and Hindus.
Half Hindu, half Muslim Nisha, twelve, no longer knows what her nation is or where she belongs. Nisha and her family flee to Pakistan after Papa determines it is too dangerous for them to remain there. Initially, they go by train, but eventually, they walk to their new home.
Nisha can’t imagine losing her homeland as well, especially after losing her mother when she was a kid. The journey is lengthy, challenging, and hazardous. Despite the fact that her nation has been destroyed, Nisha maintains hope that she will be able to rebuild herself.
The Night Diary, narrated through Nisha’s letters to her mother, is a poignant account of a young girl’s search for her own identity, her home, and a bright future.
10. The Namesake
Dazzling…An intimate, closely observed family portrait. —The New York Times
Meet the Ganguli family, recent Calcutta immigrants who are yearning to return home despite their best efforts to assimilate into American society.
The name they give their newborn child, Gogol, represents all the tensions that arise from upholding tradition in a foreign land—tensions that will follow Gogol throughout his own tortuous journey through betrayed allegiance, hilarious digressions, and heartbreaking love affairs.
Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri masterfully captures the experience of immigration and the complex relationships across generations in her book The Namesake.
More Historical Fiction Books
- The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
- The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
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About the Author
TCB Team is a dedicated group of individuals who are passionate about literature and committed to critically analyzing and evaluating various literary works. The team consist of diverse members with varying backgrounds, interests, and expertise, which allows for a comprehensive and multifaceted assessment of books across different genres and themes.
Our primary goal is to provide insightful and unbiased reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices and contribute to the broader discourse surrounding literature.
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22 Famous Indian Authors (And Their Best Books)
I realized India has a rich literary tradition and is home to some of the best and most imaginative authors out there. More people should read these books. The sun goes down in a different way in India. And you can feel the same warm, exotic glow by sitting back and opening a book through which monsoons and smells of spices will flow. Of course, I haven’t read all the authors from this list (I intend to). But this is to serve as a reference for anyone interested in Indian literature who wants to go deeper and learn about its most distinguished literati, both classic and contemporary.
22 Famous Indian Authors And Their Notable Works:
1. rabindranath tagore.
This was the first Indian author I’ve ever read. I remember sitting on a bus going to my office in Chandigarh and reading Gitanjali and Stray Birds in an old paperback version. These poems changed my life and opened me up to something I’ve never experienced before. Tagore was born in 1861 and during his life, he wrote hundreds of poems, books, and articles. His father knew Persian and could recite the poetry of Hafiz by heart. You can see that many of these Sufi mysteries are also detectable in the great author’s work. It is always related to The Power of Love and the closeness to God. Later in life, Tagore visited the tombs of Saadi and Hafiz in Shiraz and admired these poets greatly. He was also deeply influenced by Baul mysticism, Sahaja Buddhism, Vedanta Philosophy, and the Upanishads. He was knighted by the British Empire in 1915, but within a couple of years, he resigned the title as a protest against British policies in India (especially the massacre in Amritsar in 1919, which grounds I walked during my stay in Punjab). Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913).
Notable works:
Quote from the author:.
“The small wisdom is like water in a glass: clear, transparent, pure. The great wisdom is like the water in the sea: dark, mysterious, impenetrable.”
2. Jiddu Krishnamurti
Krishnamurti was a great Indian writer and philosopher who later in life moved to the USA. You can still find many recordings of his talks and lectures on YouTube (highly recommended). His interests were wide-ranging and included psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, societal change, and human relationships. I’ve learned a lot about meditation and the nature of consciousness from him. This includes the principle of non-grasping and non-judgment which serve me well to this day. He was one of the first people to bring Eastern thought to the West. His thesis was that a revolution in society can only be brought about at the level of an individual. By changing ourselves for the better we can change society as a whole. He pledged no allegiance to a nationality, caste, or religion and spent the later years of his life traveling around the world and giving lectures to large and small groups.
“You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems , and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.”
3. Chetan Bhagat
“Pretty girls behave best when you ignore them. Of course, they have to know you are ignoring them, for otherwise, they may not even know you exist.”
4. Aravind Adiga
5. shashi tharoor, 6. amrita pritam.
Pritam, born in 1919 was a novelist, essayist, and poet who, unlike many of the authors on this list wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She is known as the most prominent Punjabi poet who is loved both by Indians and Pakistanis. She lived a long life during which she produced over 100 books of poetry , fiction, and biographies, as well as a collection of beautiful Punjabi folk songs. Her works have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. Her book Pinjar (The Skeleton) was groundbreaking and ultimately got adapted into an award-winning movie in 2003. She has been often compared to Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batlavi and was the most prominent voice for the liberation of women in Punjabi literature.
“Warish Shah I call out to you, Rise from your grave, speak out and turn, Another page of the Book of Love”
7. Kamala Markandaya
“For where shall a man turn who has no money? Where can he go? Wide, wide world, but as narrow as the coins in your hand. Like a tethered goat, so far and no farther. Only money can make the rope stretch, only money.”
8. Khushwant Singh
9. r.k. narayan.
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami is mostly known for his fiction works related to the South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading English language author in India along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao. It might come as a surprise, but he was a close friend of Graham Greene, who helped him to get publishers for his first books . The fictional town Malgudi was first introduced in his book “Swami and Friends”. The made-up town had a pristine historical record dating back to the times of Ramayana and Buddha. He loved to show the humor of everyday life and has been often compared to William Faulkner. He wrote for over sixty years and lived to be 94.
10. Salman Rushdie
This author should not require an introduction. Rushdie first came on the map with his novel “Midnight’s Children” (1981) for which he won the Booker Prize. His works are a great combination of magical realism and historical fiction and are often set on the Indian subcontinent. His novel “The Satanic Verses”, put him in mortal danger from assassins who haunted him for many years on orders from Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa, condemning the author to death, for his “blasphemous” novel which ostensibly offended the Prophet. He wrote many novels afterward and has been ranked 13th on the list of the best British writers since 1945.
11. Arundhati Roy
“To love. To be loved. Never forget your insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty in its lair. Never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”
12. Vikram Seth
Born in 1952 in Calcutta, Seth is a part novelist, and part travel writer known mostly for his first novel “The Golden Gate” and the epic novel “A Suitable Boy”. The author was raised in London and graduated from Oxford, and Stanford where he studied economics. It took him a long time to get the attention of the public and some of his first volumes did not attract critical attention. The first book that conquered the hearts of readers was a humorous travelogue “From Heaven Lake.” His books are most often written in verse but his book of prose “A Suitable Boy”, which has 1349 pages, is often compared to the works of Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens.
“But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they’re bad they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they’re good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch.”
13. Anita Desai
“Isn’t it strange how life won’t flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood?”
14. Jhumpa Lahiri
Although she was born in London, and now has American citizenship, her background is ethnically Indian (her parents come from West Bengal). Her work often explores the Indian immigrant experience in America. Her book “Interpreter of Maladies” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the PEN/Hemingway award. Moreover, her second novel “The Namesake” was made into a popular movie of the same name. In 2011 she moved to Rome and since then she has translated a few Italian books into English. Her forthcoming book is going to be written in Italian as well.
15. Amitav Ghosh
Ghosh is mostly known for his English works of fiction. He’s also the winner of the prestigious Jnanpith Award for his outstanding contribution to literature. He was born in Calcutta in 1956 but later moved with his family to New York, USA, where he joined The Queen’s College as a distinguished professor of comparative literature. He’s also been a visiting professor in the English department at Harvard University He later returned to India where he began working on his Ibis Trilogy. He wrote eight novels (the most famous one being the “Sea of Poppies”), as well as 6 works of nonfiction including many notable collections of essays. In his works, he often deals with epic themes of history, memory of political struggle, and communal violence which include elements of anthropology as well as art.
“What would it be like if I had something to defend – a home, a country, a family – and I found myself attacked by these ghostly men, these trusting boys? How do you fight an enemy who fights with neither enmity nor anger, but in submission to orders from superiors, without protest and conscience?”
16. Ruskin Bond
17. kiran desai.
Kiran is the daughter of Anita Desai, already mentioned in this list. Her novel “Inheritance of Loss” which took her seven years to complete won the Man Booker Award in 2006. She received many other accolades (including praise from Salman Rushdie) for her works and has been named as one of the 20 most influential Indian women. She was born in Delhi but later on, she moved to India and then to the United States where she studied creative writing at Bennington College, Hollins University, and Columbia University. Despite publishing just two books, she’s still one of the most widely-known English language writers from India
“Could fulfillment ever be felt as deeply as loss? Romantically she decided that love must surely reside in the gap between desire and fulfillment, in the lack, not the contentment. Love was the ache, the anticipation, the retreat, everything around it but the emotion itself.”
18. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra is an author and poet who was born in Kolkata but now holds American citizenship as well. She received many awards and many of her books are currently turned into movies and TV shows. Her works are set both in India and the United States and often depict the life of immigrants. What’s quite distinctive about her work is that she writes in many genres and for many audiences including adults and children. She penned a dozen books of fiction, a couple of books for young adults and children, and many books of poetry.
19. Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Chaudhuri lived to be 101 years old, and he almost lived in three different centuries. He was born in 1897 still in British India and died in 1999 in Oxford, England. He wrote both in English and Bengali. His books often touch upon the themes of the history and cultural changes in India, especially in the context of the British Empire. His magnum opus “The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian” attracted many admirers over the years, including Winston Churchill. It’s an autobiography of Chaudhuri from his birth to the age of 50. The book brought about much controversy and was a great account of how colonial rule worked.
20. Mahatma Gandhi
This man doesn’t need any introduction. He played a huge role in a political movement that ultimately led to the liberation of India from the British Empire. Most people know him for his political activism and service to his country. But he was also an avid writer who left behind many interesting books that chronicled his fight for independence and his philosophy. His book “The Story of my experiments with Truth” is a collection of 105 essays covering different aspects of his life and the development of his philosophy. Another book called “Hind Swaraj” was written in 1909 but already sketched out a dream of a free India.
Notable Works:
21. dilip hiro.
“When asked about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s 1942 movement, Attlee’s lips widened in the smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, “Minimal.”
22. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Chatterji could be as well in the first place on this list as he is the most popular, and the most translated Indian author of all time. He was born in Bengal at the end of the 19th century and remains the most widely known novelist in the Bengali language. His works mostly deal with the day, often tragic life of the villagers of his native land. He received little formal schooling but was endowed with a love of literature from his father. He later improved his writing skills under the tutelage of Kishorimohan Mukherjee. From then on, he was involved in the fight for independence and established himself as one of India’s most famous writers.
“They’ll have the sweet, intimate memories of a lost paradise, and beside it a sea of sorrow… People looking on from the outside think all is lost… What remains when everything is lost can be held in the palm, like a jewel. It can’t be flaunted in a pageant, so the lookers-on are disappointed and jeer as they return home..”
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