Tanuja Desai Hidier is an Indian-American author and singer/songwriter. She is best known for her 2002 young adult novel Born Confused, and its 2014 sequel Bombay Blues.
Life
Hidier was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Her parents met in when they were both attending medical school in Parel (South Mumbai). Their marriage was intercaste and scandalous for her father's family, though her mother's family accepted the marriage. This marriage was a basis for the parents' marriage in Born Confused.[1]
She collaborates with Atom Fellows, in the group T&A.
She lives in London.
Writing career
Her first novel, Born Confused, was released in 2002. The story is a coming-of-age story about an Indian-American teenager named Dimple Lala, and is drawn "largely from autobiography."[3][2] It is considered to be the first of its kind, a South Asian American novel with an Indian-American protagonist.
Musical career
Hidier wrote and released two "booktracks" to accompany her books; When We Were Twins for Born Confused was released in 2004, and Bombay Spleen followed Bombay Blues in 2014.[4]
The Assimilation Alphabet (co-wrote and co-directed)
Awards
Hidier is a recipient of the 1995 James Jones Literary Prize for her un-released novelTale of a Two-Hearted Tiger, and received an award for the YALSA 2003 Best Books for Young Adults for her 2002 novel Born Confused.[6] She received the 2015 South Asia Book Award for Bombay Blues.[7]
^Comerford, Lynda Brill (Dec 23, 2002). "Fall 2002 Flying Starts: Tanuja Desai Hidier". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 27 February 2014. On another level, Born Confused encapsulates the universal insecurities and identity crises experienced by young adults. "It was refreshing to write from a teen's perspective," says the author. "It was fun to go back and experience the shock and surprise of new discoveries. Teens aren't as jaded as adults."
