Irani, Anosh 1974-

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Irani, Anosh 1974-

PERSONAL:

Born 1974, in Bombay, Maharashtra, India; immigrated to Canada, 1998. Education: University of Bombay, B.Comm.; University of British Columbia, B.F.A., 2004.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Vancouver, BC, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, summer assistant to art director.

WRITINGS:

The Cripple and His Talismans, Raincoast Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2003, Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, NC), 2005.

The Matka King (play), produced at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2003.

The Song of Kahunsha, Milkweed Editions (Minneapolis, MN), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in Bombay, India, in 1974, Anosh Irani immigrated to Canada in 1998, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. Irani writes both prose and plays. The Matka King, his first dramatic work, premiered in October, 2003, at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver.

Irani's first novel, The Cripple and His Talismans, recounts the story of a man who wakes up in a hospital in the Indian city of Bombay to discover that his arm has been amputated, yet he cannot remember what led to his injury. Over the course of his search for answers to this mystery, he discovers a side of the city that was previously unknown to him. Irani uses magical realism to add an additional layer of mystery to the protagonist's quest, and to the city of Bombay as seen through his eyes. A contributor to Publishers Weekly called Irani's effort a "lush debut novel," concluding that "an undercurrent of dark humor as well as Irani's atmospheric evocation of Bombay enliven this compelling story." Allison Block, in a review for Booklist, found Irani's novel to be "a challenging offering from a writer with a penchant for mixing the profane and divine."

In The Song of Kahunsha, Irani explores the underworld of Mumbai through the eyes of an innocent. Ten-year-old Chamdi, who has spent his life in an Indian orphanage, dreams of a city of peace called Kahunsha (the city of no sadness) where he can be reunited with his long-lost father. When the orphanage is torn down and the children are to be moved to a different town, Chamdi runs away, seeking his father and his dreams. But the streets of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) are nothing like the vision he has of Kahunsha. "Here childhood innocence and dreams meet the reality of day-to-day survival," stated Booklist contributor Michele Leber, "and violence, during Hindu-Muslim riots, [forces] choices that should never have to be made." Chamdi is taken in by a small family—a brother, sister, their mother and infant sibling—who are veterans of street living in Mumbai, but they are unable to protect him from the religious violence and the predatory practices of the others who haunt the city's streets. "After the dust settles, Chamdi remains, trapped and vulnerable," Henry Bankhead declared in his Library Journal review. "His future, disturbingly foreshadowed, is left unfinished if uneasily imagined." "The Song of Kahunsha is a harsh, unforgiving, horrifying, and beautiful book all at once," Richard Marcus wrote in his review, published on the Web site Blogcritics.org. "It's about the power of dreams, and the meanness of the world. Simple and eloquent simultaneously, it will break your heart and not offer any apologies."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2005, Allison Block, review of The Cripple and His Talismans, p. 941; April 15, 2007, Michele Leber, review of The Song of Kahunsha, p. 22.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2005, review of The Cripple and His Talismans, p. 139.

Library Journal, May 15, 2007, Henry Bankhead, review of The Song of Kahunsha, p. 80.

National Post, August 5, 2006, "The Spirit of Kahunsha Rises Above It All," p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, April 4, 2005, review of The Cripple and His Talismans, p. 43.