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Indra Sinha (born in 1950 in Mumbai, India) is a British writer of English and Indian descent. Animal's People, his most recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize and winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Europe and South Asia.
Set in the fictional Indian city of Khaufpur, Animal's People was a reworking of the Bhopal disaster based on Sinha's long association working with the Bhopal survivors.
His earlier works include translations of ancient Sanskrit texts into English, a non-fiction memoir of the pre-internet generation (The Cybergypsies), and a novel, The Death of Mr. Love.
Formerly a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, London, and, from 1984, Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners, Sinha has the distinction of having been voted one of the top ten British copywriters of all time. He became known for hard-hitting, campaigning advertising for charities such as Amnesty International and the Bhopal Medical Appeal, but became increasingly disenchanted with commercial advertising. He resigned from the agency in 1995 to concentrate on writing.
Sinha is the son of an Indian naval officer and an English writer. He was educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, Rajasthan in India; Oakham School, Rutland, England and Pembroke College, Cambridge in England, where he studied English literature. He and his wife live in Sussex. They have three grown children.
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(Reprinted with permission from The Book Depository.)
Mark Thwaite: What gave you the idea for Animal's People?
Indra Sinha: In 1996, I made some notes for a screenplay titled Green
Song, which was an attempt to tell a fictionalized account not of the
Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, but of its aftermath -- of the
suffering, the wicked neglect, and the struggle of its people -- people I
know very well -- for justice. The story of Bhopal is almost beyond belief.
In October 2002, Outlook India wrote:
"Bhopal isn't only about charred lungs, poisoned kidneys and deformed
foetuses. It's also about corporate crime, multinational skullduggery,
injustice, dirty deals, medical malpractice, corruption, callousness, and
contempt for the poor. Nothing else explains why the victims' average
compensation was just $500 -- for a lifetime of misery...Yet the victims
haven't given up. Their struggle for justice and dignity is one of the most
valiant anywhere. They have unbelievable energy and hope...the fight has not
ended. It won't, so long as our collective conscience stirs."
This was the background, but novels are about people, not issues. I knew
Bhopal too well. To ...
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