R. Raj Rao
R. Raj Rao | |
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The Boyfriend |
Ramachandrapurapu Raj Rao (born 6 April 1955)
Personal life
R. Raj Rao was born in
Rao in the queer scene
Poems from Rao's BOMGaY collection served as the basis for
Rao published the non-fiction work Whistling in the Dark in 2009, the novels Hostel Room 131 in 2010 and Lady Lolita's Lover[19] in 2015.
Following the success of The Boyfriend, Rao founded the Queer Studies Circle at Pune University.[20] Rao was one of the first to offer a course on LGBT literature at the university level in India.[21] Rao first offered it in 2007, after years of resistance on the part of his academic superiors. He said: "It's strange how the academic fraternity that has always been quick to accept all kinds of literature — Marxist, feminist, Dalit — had a huge reservation when it came to queer literature. For years, the Board of Studies refused to let us start the course saying that 'Indian students do not need it'. Finally we clubbed it with Dalit literature and started it under the genre of Alternative Literature."[22]
Works
- Sildeshow (Peepal Tree Press, 1992), poems
- Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1985) (South Asia Books, 1993), co-editor with Sudhakar Pandey
- Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000)
- One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (HarperCollins India, 2001), short stories
- The Wisest Fool on Earth and Other Plays (The Brown Critique, Kolkata)
- The Boyfriend (Penguin, 2003), novel
- Whistling in the Dark: Twenty-One Queer Interviews (Sage, 2009), co-editor with Dibyajyoti Sarma
- Hostel Room 131 (2010), novel
- Lady Lolita's Lover (HarperCollins India, 2015), novel
- Ten Indian Authors in Interview, editor
- Madam, Give Me My Sex (Bloomsbury India, 2019), novel
References
- ^ "રાજ રાવ, આર" (in Gujarati). Gujarati Vishwakosh . Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "Speaker Profiles," April 2004, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Arora, Kim (7 February 2011). "Authors get bold as gay literature picks up in India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ Pink Pages: The Boyfriend, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Concordia University: "Quebec-India Visiting Scholar Awards Program Welcomes Two Professors," January 29, 2008 Archived 23 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ a b Concordia Journal: Karen Herland, "International Interdisciplinary," February 14, 2008, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ "Raj Rao to read his plays today," April 1, 2011, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Kavi, Ashok Row (26 September 2010), "Too queer to be true", Hindustan Times, archived from the original on 29 October 2010, retrieved 9 January 2011
- ^ Grove, Richard. "The Dance of the Peacock:An Anthology of English Poetry from India". No. current. Hidden Brook Press, Canada. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Press, Hidden Brook. "Hidden Brook Press". Hidden Brook Press. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Internet Movie Database: Bomgay (1996), accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Sandeep Bakshi, Fractured Resistance: Queer Negotiations of the Postcolonial in R. Raj Rao’s The Boyfriend, South Asian Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2012
- ^ "The Boyfriend - Goodreads". Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ Hindu Literary Review: "First Impression," September 7, 2003, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ BBC: Zubair Ahmed , "Gay Bombay comes out," June 19, 2003, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies: Terry Goldie, "R. Raj Rao's The Boyfriend: A Model of the Indian Homosexual?," September 10, 2006 Archived 23 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ Iowa Research Online: Sucheta Mallick Choudhuri, "Transgressive territories: queer space in Indian fiction and film," 2009, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ York University: "Sexuality and Literature: Sexology vs. Fiction", accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ HarperCollins India: "Lady Lolita’s Lover", accessed 20 August 2018
- ^ Times of India: "Gay rights groups hail bid to amend law," July 27, 2002, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ The Punekar: "Marathi teacher takes charge of English department at Pune University," October 15, 2010 Archived 31 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 15 May 2011
- ^ The Punekar: "Gay-lesbian course at UoP sets an example for other universities," July 16, 2009 Archived 4 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 15 May 2011
External links
- Interview, August 28, 2010[Express Buzz
- R. Raj Rao at Penguin India