About the Author

Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for twenty years and is now professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor of Manushi 1978-90. She is the author of several books, including Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination (1996); Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture (2005), Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012); Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). (2017). She co-edited the pioneering Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History (2000; updated edition 2020). Her first novel, Memory of Light, appeared in 2020.

She is the author of over sixty articles on British and Indian literature, and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra' (2008). She divides her time between Missoula, Montana and Gurgaon.

Reviews

"Vanita offers a marvelously global perspective on our own 'gay marriage' debates - one characterized by profound historical understanding, impeccable scholarship, and a rare and delightful precision of feeling." Terry Castle, editor of The Literature of Lesbianism: A Historical Anthology from Ariosto to Stonewall

"Read and be enlightened. Be enlightened and be educated about a great tradition that presents itself as an equal contributor of modern civilization. I urge you to read and keep this book carefully for it offers you a useful foundation to build a happier life. A life that knows its past can offer you a more secure future." Ashok Row Kavi, gay activist and founder of Bombay Dost

"Ruth Vanita brings to same-sex love not clenched-teeth ideology, aggressive self-assertion hiding deeper insecurities, or the anguish of marginalization, but an effortless combination of empathy, moral conviction, and deep cultural sensitivity. This is an excellent work of scholarship that also makes delightful reading." Ashis Nandy, Director, Center for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, and author of The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism