India as a country is famous for many things mainly in art, literature and writing which has been followed since the ancient times. After Independent India, we have seen a lot of writers that have paved their way to becoming the finest authors that we as Indians know today. In the last 60-80 years, we have seen some of the best Indian authors who have written pieces of literature especially for the country and some are still used as poems in school, our national anthem are some of the major contributions these authors have given to our society.
There are about 20 languages that are spoken in India, and you have 20 different famous kinds of literature as well. There have been many authors that have done their bit, so here we are with an attempt of putting forth the Top authors in India which books have to be read.
Top 10 Best Indian Authors
#10 Kushwanth Singh
Born:- 15 August 1915
Famous Books:- Train To Pakistan (1956), The Company of Women (1999), Delhi: A Novel (1990)
Awards:- Padmabushan, Punjab Ratan Award, PadmaVibushan and many more
Kushwant Singh was a journalist, editor, lawyer and a novelist born in Hadli which was during the time of British India. He had received his degree from St Stephens College in New Delhi and Kings College in London. He had started his career initially as a lawyer after which he got a major opportunity to become the editor of journals and magazines. As an author, he had written many outstanding novels in his time like Train to Pakistan and The Good, The Bad and the Ridiculous.
#9 Vikram Seth
Born:- 20 June 1952
Famous Books:- A Suitable Boy (1993), The Golden Gate (1986)
Awards:- Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Vikram Seth born in Calcutta formerly now known as (Kolkata) graduated from high school after which he studied Philosophy, Economics and Politics at Corpus Christian college, Oxford and went to graduate with a B.A. Degree in 1975. Post that year from 1976 to 1986 he pursued his PhD at Stanford University, U.S.A. He has written many novels since then which has received several accolades.
#8 Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Born:- 15 September 1876
Famous books:- Devdas (1901), Parineeta (1917), Palli Samaj (1916)
Awards:- All the notable films have come from his books
He is considered to be as one of the top Indian authors till date. He had belonged to a poverty-stricken family because his father had many irregular jobs. But as his father also aspired to become a writer and a novelist that later seeped into Sarat which made him become a novelist himself. He had written is first few essays in his teens itself. Since he was a feminist he took it upon himself to write about the patriarchal society. He was known for his popular novels like Parineeta and Devdas which later was made into movies in the later years. He was one of Bengal’s popular novelist.
#7 Arundhati Roy
Born:- 24 November 1961
Famous Books:- The God of Small Things (1997), The Case for Freedom and Capitalism: A Ghost Story(2014)
Awards:- Booker Prize, Sydney Peace Prize
Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer, essayist and political activist who is one of the best authors in India. She is best known for her novel God of Small Things which won her the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in the year 1997.She had many noteworthy novels which are still considered to be the best.
#6 Jumpa Lahiri
Born:- 11 July 1967
Famous Books:- The Interpreter of Maladies (1999), The Namesake(2003), The Lowland (2013)
Awards:- O Henry Award, New York Times best 10 books of the Year, PEN/Malamud Award
Jumpa Lahiri is well known for her amazing novels, essays and mainly short stories. She was born in London but later moved to the United States where she got her education done at Barnard College. She got her masters done at Boston University. Lahiri had a hard, struggling phase for a really long time until she had her biggest success “The interpreter of Maladies which was a compilation of short stories about the life of immigrants in post-partition India. After which she had written many famous novels since and is one of the best Indian authors among females.
#5 Amrita Pritam
Born:- 31 August 1919
Famous Books:- Pinjar (1950), Kore Kagaz (1982)
Awards:- Punjab Ratan, Padma Vibhusan
Amrita Pritam is a very accomplished novelist and had indulged herself in poetry and literature at a young age. She was a very courageous woman who did not fear while writing controversial texts mainly during the time of pre-partition era. After the partition of India which ad given her a really tough time made her come up with the Punjabi novel “Pinjar” which describes helplessness of women. The book was later made into a Bollywood movie which had become a hit.
#4 Ruskin Bond
Born:- 19 May 1934
Famous Books:- The Blue Umbrella (1974), Sussana’s seven Husbands(2011), Angry River (1972)
Awards:- Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan
When you hear the name Ruskin Bond you would always remember your school days as most of his poems and one-liners were very famous and are still remembered today by many people. He was born in Punjab, British Indian and had got his education done in Shimla after which he had moved to the UK to grow his writing career. He started his career as a freelance writer. After few years of struggle, he got his worldwide acclaim with his novel “The Blue Umbrella”.
#3 R.K. Narayan
Born:- 10 October 1906
Famous Books:- Malgudi Days (1942), The Guide (1958), The Dark Room (1938) and many more
Awards:- Padma Vibhushan, Benson Medal, Padma Bhushan
RK Narayan was born in Chennai and because of his father’s transfers had to move around many schools. He had a reading habit since his young age and his hobby turned out to be a habit. He graduated to become a home writer. After few efforts, he had come out with his third novel which had become a big hit i.e “The Dark Room” which was later followed by Malgudi Days. he had written many books since then. There was a show in remembrance of him known as Malgudi Days. He was considered to be as one of the top Indian authors.
#2 Chetan Bhagat
Born:- 22 April 1974
Famous Books:- Five Point Someone (2004), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), Three Mistakes of my life (2008) etc and many more
Awards:- Filmfare award for Best Screenplay, Zee Cine Awards for Best story
Chetan Bhagat is today’s generation novelist, where most of his novels turn out to be films which are a super hit and have backed many awards in the overseas as well. He is cited by the New York Times in 2008 as one of the best selling English Language novelist in India till date. His books are about middle-class urban problems, love stories, friendship and college life. His stories would mainly connect with the youths. He is considered as one of the best Indian authors so far.
#1 Rabindranath Tagore
Born:- 7 May 1861
Famous Books:- Gitanjali (1910), Gora (1910), The boyhood days (1940)
Awards:- Nobel Prize in literature, Knight Title
He is considered to be as one of the best authors in India. He had done his education in law where he had taken a great interest in Shakespeare and his famous works of literature. Keeping him as his inspiration he had become an author and a poet. His first poem Mansi was published in 1890 after which he had gained a lot of popularity amongst Bengali readers. His famous works include “Gitanjali” which are collection fo poems. He wrote the national anthem for India.
