Ruth Vanita

 ( 1955 Births ) 

Ruth Vanita is an Indian academic, activist and author who specialises in British and Indian literary history with a focus on gender and sexuality studies. She also teaches and writes on Hindu philosophy.

---

Early life and education Vanita earned her BA, MA and PhD in English at Delhi University.

---

Career From 1994 to 1997 Vanita was Reader in the Department of English at Delhi University. She is now a professor of English and World Cultures at the University of Montana, where she directs the program in South & South-East Asian Studies.

While living in Delhi in 1978, Vanita co-founded , a journal that combined academic research and grassroots activism. She served as the journal's unpaid, volunteer co-editor from 1979 to 1991.

---

Major publications

---

Books

• 1994: A Play of Light: Selected Poems
• 1996: Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination
• 2005:
• 2005: Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture
• 2012: Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870
• 2017: Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema
• 2020: Memory of Light (a novel)
  Ruth Vanita (2020). 9780143497660, Penguin Random House India Private Limited. . ISBN 9780143497660
• 2022: The Dharma of Justice: Debates on Gender Varna and Species
  (2022). 9780192859822, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780192859822
• 2023: The Broken Rainbow: Poems and Translations
• 2024: A Slight Angle (a novel)

---

Edited volumes

• 1991 (ed. with Madhu Kishwar): In Search of Answers: Indian Women's Voices from Manushi
• 2000 (ed. with Saleem Kidwai): Same-Sex love in India: Readings from Literature and History
• 2002 (ed.): Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society
• 2014 (ed.): India and the World: Postcolonialism, Translation and Indian Literature – Essays in Honour of Professor Harish Trivedi

---

Translations

• 1994: Yadav, Rajendra: Strangers on the Roof, translated by Ruth Vanita, Penguin India, 1994 (updated edition with a new introduction 2014)
• 1997: Vijaydan Detha. Dilemma and Other Stories
• 2003: Manu Bhandari: The Great Feast ( Mahabhoj)
• 2006: Sharma, Pandey Bechan ("Ugra"): Chocolate and Other Stories on Male-Male Desire
• 2007: About Me (Apni Khabar) (autobiography of Pande Bechan Sharma Ugra)
• 2008: The Co-Wife and Other Stories by Premchand
• 2013: Alone Together: Selected Stories of Mannu Bhandari, Rajee Seth and Archana Varma
• 2021: My Family by Mahadevi Varma
  Mahadevi Varma (2021). 9789354921582, Penguin Random House India Private Limited. . ISBN 9789354921582

---

External links

• Ayyar, Raj. (2001-03-05). " Reclaiming Gay India with Ruth Vanita". GayToday. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
• "Gay historians: Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai," QueerIndia, 5 March 2005

Post Comment