Shobha Rao

Last updated

Shobha Rao
Shobha Rao 2018.jpg
BornIndia
OccupationAuthor
Genrenovel, short fiction
Notable works Girls Burn Brighter; An Unrestored Woman
Notable awards2014 Katherine Ann Porter Prize for Fiction
Website
shobharaowrites.com

Shobha Rao is an American novelist, having immigrated from India. She won the 2014 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, is a recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation fellowship, and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2015.

Contents

Writing and reception

In 2016 Rao released An Unrestored Women, a collection of short stories connected to the division of British India into India and Pakistan. [1]

Rao's 2018 debut novel, Girls Burn Brighter , has been praised for its "sustained and elegant prose", [2] though USA Today said that the "empowering message gets lost in the overheated language and imagery"; the review concluded that once "Rao learns to dial down the melodrama, she’ll be a formidable writer". [3] Another reviewer calls Rao "a natural storyteller". [4] Rao's other work, An Unrestored Woman, is a short story collection that was called "a breathless and fascinating read". [5]

In 2025 Rao released the novel Indian Country, which tells the story of a young married couple who move from Varanasi, India to Montana. [6]

A theme throughout Rao's works is oppression, especially of women.

Works

References

  1. 1 2 AN UNRESTORED WOMAN by Shobha Rao | Kirkus Reviews.
  2. 1 2 Patrick, Bethanne. "Women tend the flames of their ambition in Shobha Rao's 'Girls Burn Brighter'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "'Girls' burns with intensity as two teen friends in India face abuse". USA Today. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Miller, E. Ce. "This New Book Is About Sexual Violence & Human Trafficking – And The Power of Female Friendship". Bustle. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  5. ↑ "a book review by Siobhan Fallon: An Unrestored Woman". nyjournalofbooks.com. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Indian Country". Penguin Random House. Retrieved August 31, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ Beckerman, Hannah (May 13, 2018). "Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao review – teenage trial by misogyny". The Guardian. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Shobha Rao | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved May 27, 2018.


Flag of the United States.svg Big Book blue.svg

This American novelist article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.