Atima Srivastava was born in Mumbai in 1961, moved to Britain when she was eight, and has since been living in North London. She has written two novels, Transmission and Looking for Maya, both of which are set texts in the syllabi of several Universities in Britain and other European countries ranging from Poland to Spain. She is working on a third novel, tentatively titled The Non-Resident Indian. Several of her short stories have been commissioned and published in anthologies, New Writing 2001, Well Sorted and Tran-Lit.
She has worked in television for over 13 years as a film editor and, more recently, as a director. She has three screenplays to her credit: Dancing in the Dark and The Legendary Vindaloo commissioned for Channel 4; and Camden Story for the BBC. A play, Why not Love? has been commissioned by The National Theatre and she has written the libretto for a new opera, Cross Currents, commissioned by BroomHill Opera, performed in June 2001.
Atima Srivastava has won first prize in the Bridport Arts Short Story competition, an Arts Council Award for her second and third novel, and a Hawthornden Fellowship. She has been Writer in Residence at the University of Singapore and the University of Sophia (Bulgaria), University of Mainz and and Ewha University (Seoul). She has taught Creative Writing courses and lectured around the world with the British Council. [more]
See article in Singapore's Straits Times
Atima Srivastava's two novels basically represent young Indian women who are not looking for their roots, or trying to live something down. They just want more -- without working too hard: life, love and success.Looking for Maya, Atima Srivastava's second novel, is the story of Mira, a young woman fresh out of university and set to embark on a brilliant career. She is bright, ambitious, hungry for life and dangerously naïve. When her boyfriend takes off for the summer Mira is left alone in London where she falls into the orbit of Amrit,older,sophisticated,a man accustomed to calling the tune. Both have a great deal to learn and to lose. Exploring themes of love, passion, friendship and the ambiguities of cultural identity,Looking for Maya is an acutely observed and moving novel.
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Through Angie’s family complexities,the death of her friend and her burgeoning relationship with Lol,this streetwise witty novel tackles important moral dilemmas of our times.
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