Namita Gokhale Biography and latest books by Namita Gokhale

Namita Gokhale is a writer and publisher. Her first novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion made her famous instantly. She is one of the founders and co-directors of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

She was born in Lucknow, India in 1956 and spent her childhood between New Delhi and Nainital, in the foothills of the Himalayas. A Kumaoni by birth, she married to Rajiv Gokhale when she was 18. Gokhale dropped out of college after a conflict over the bias against certain students. She then published the enormously successful film magazine Super from Bombay in the late seventies, which later closed down.

Namita Gokhale has written five novels and two works of nonfiction in English. Her first novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion, 1984, a satire upon the Mumbai and Delhi elite caused an uproar due to its sexual humour. Gods Graves and Grandmother- an ironic fable about street life in Delhi was adapted into a musical play. Gokhale was diagnosed with cancer when she was just 35 and her husband died a few years later.

The experience of illness and loss has enveloped her later books, A Himalayan Love Story, The Book of Shadows and Shakuntala, the play of memory. Gokhale has written two books of non-fiction. Mountain Echoes which deals with the Kumaoni way of life through the eyes of four highly talented and individualistic women. The Book of Shiva is an introduction to Shaivite philosophy and mythology. She had retold the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, in an illustrated version for young and first time readers. Her most recent publication In Search of Sita – Revisiting Mythology, co-edited with Dr Malashri Lal, presents fresh interpretations of this enigmatic goddess and her indelible impact on the lives of Indian women.

Publishing is Gokhale’s other love. The Namita Gokhale editions, a signature imprint published in association with Roli Books, introduced some notable titles including Rashna Imhasly Gandhy’s The Psychology of Love and Neelima Dalmia Adhar’s biography of her father, R K Dalmia.

Namita Gokhale conceptualised the famous International Festival of Indian Literature, Neemrana 2002, and also The Africa Asia Literary Conference, 2006. She has worked on groundbreaking seminars on Translating Bharat, and Textile Narratives with the literary consultancy Siyahi.

She is a founder-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival along with the author, William Dalrymple, which started in 2006.

Paro
Paro is a heroic temptress, alluring and rapacious. As she wanders through the world of privilege and scotch whisky that the urban rich inhabit, she is constantly observed by the acid Priya, eternal voyeur and diarist… This is a dazzling moral tale, sharp, sexy and funny.

Gods, Graves & Grandmother
‘My grandmother had been a great singer, a kothewali whose voice was more liquid and beautiful than Lata Mangeshkar’s. Eleven nawabs and two Englishmen were besotted with love of her….’ From these great heights Gudiya’s world plunges into the depths of almost complete penury when she arrives in Delhi with her ancient grandmother, Ammi, fleeing small-town scandal and disgrace. Just when all seems lost, Ammi works a miracle.

The Puffin Mahabharata
A long, long time ago, in the ancient lands of India, known in those days as Bharatvarsha, a family quarrel grew into a bloody war. There had been wars before, and there have been wars since, but that mighty battle between warring cousins of the Kuru clan has become a part of the mythology and history of India. Told and retold a million times, the story of the Mahabharata is about defeat as much as victory, about humility as much as courage. It is the greatest story ever told. Like a modern-day suta or storyteller, Namita Gokhale brings alive India\'s richest literary treasure with disarming ease and simplicity. She retells this timeless tale of mortals and immortals and stories within stories, of valour, deceit, glory and despair, for today\'s young reader in a clear, contemporary style.

In Search of Sita
Sita is one of the defining figures of Indian womanhood, yet there is no single version of her story. Sacrifice, self denial and unquestioning loyalty are some of the ideals associated with popular perceptions of Sita. But the Janaki who symbolized strength, who could lift Shiva’s mighty bow, who courageously chose to accompany Rama into exile and who refused to follow him back after a second trial, is often forgotten. In Search of Sita presents essays, conversations and commentaries that explore different aspects of her life. It revisits mythology, reopening the debate on her birth, her days in exile, her abduction, the test by fire, the birth of her sons and, finally, her return to the earth—offering fresh interpretations of this enigmatic figure.