Shanii (7B1) — Highams Park School

Jhumpa Lahiri is a bilingual author who is fluent in Italian, English, and Bengali.
Her full name is Nilanjana ‘Jhumpa’ Sudeshna Lahiri.
She was born on 11th July 1964 (54 years).
Her parents are Amar and Tapita Lahiri. Jhumpa’s children are Octavia and Noor Vourvoalias and her husband is Alberto Vourvoalias.
Jhumpa has won many awards during her time as a bilingual author. These include Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, PEN/Hemingway Award and many more achievements.
She has many differing novels and short stories varying in languages. Some of her notable works include; Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, The Lowland and plenty more fantastic books.
Jhumpa is known for saying that ‘she feels freer when writing in Italian’, even though it was a personal desire to learn it, whereas English and Bengali were compulsory. English only became her dominant language when she started school. One of Jhumpa’s more recent novels was written in Italian and self-translated into English.
Overall, Jhumpa is an astonishing bilingual writer who needs a lot more recognition. So many fantastic bilingual authors don’t get nearly enough attention as they should as they go above and beyond in their books and writings. Jhumpa Lahiri is just one of innumerable bilingual authors who the world needs to know and praise upon.