Manjula Padmanabhan

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Manjula Padmanabhan
Born (1953-06-23) 23 June 1953 (age 71)
Delhi, India
OccupationPlaywright, novelist, illustrator, short story person, journalist, children's book author
Alma mater Elphinstone College
Genre Comic strip, science fiction
Years active1979–present
Notable awards Onassis Award
Website
magnoliana.com

Manjula Padmanabhan (born 23 June 1953) is an Indian playwright, journalist, comic strip artist, and children's book author. Her works explore science, technology, gender, and international inequalities.

Contents

Life

Padmanabhan was born in Delhi in 1953 to an Indian diplomat father. She was raised in Sweden, Pakistan, and Thailand. [1] [2] She was an avid reader of comics and cartoons, and often drew and wrote as a child. [3]

When Padmanabhan was sixteen, her father retired and her family returned to India, where she was surprised by the more traditional society and was limited by not knowing Hindi or Marathi. [1]

Padmanabhan attended Elphinstone College. While at school, she worked at Parsiana to gain financial independence from her family. [1]

Career and works

Padmanabhan continued working as a journalist and book reviewer into her 20s and 30s. [3] She began her career as an illustrator in 1979 with Ali Baig's book Indrani and the Enchanted Jungle. [2]

In 1982, Padmanabhan created a comic strip, Doubletalk, which featured the female character Suki. [4] She wrote a pitch to The Sunday Observer editor Vinod Mehta, who published her strip for many years. [5] [6] Suki then appeared six days a week in Delhi paper The Pioneer from 1992 to 1998. When Vinod Mehta left the publications and The Pioneer stopped publishing comics, Padmanabhan stopped creating Doubletalk.

Padmanabhan won the first ever Onassis Award for her play Harvest . An award-winning film Deham was made by Govind Nihalani based on the play.

Padmanabhan has continued to work as an author and illustrator, and has published short stories within many different volumes.

Padmanabhan returned to creating comics featuring Suki with the strip Suki Yaki for The Hindu's Business Line.

As playwright

As author and illustrator

As illustrator

Comic strips

Short stories

Autobiography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "And still I rise: Why Manjula Padmanabhan never came to terms being the second sex". The Indian Express. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 The Oxford encyclopedia of children's literature. Jack Zipes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN   0-19-514656-5. OCLC   62342788.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. 1 2 3 Manjula padmanabhan. (2013, Aug 24). Mint Retrieved from Proquest.
  4. Padmanabhan, Manjula. "The return of Suki: four windows to India's most original comic strip". Scroll.in. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  5. Padmanabhan, Manjula. "The return of Suki: four windows to India's most original comic strip". Scroll.in. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  6. Moddie, Mandira (28 August 2005). "Antics of Suki". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2009.