Esther David

Esther David (born 17 March 1945) is an Indian Jewish author, an artist and a sculptor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.

Early life
She was born into a Bene Israel Jewish family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She won Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010 for The Book of Rachel.

Her father, Reuben David, was a hunter-turned-veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and Balvatika near Kankaria lake in Ahmedabad. Her mother, Sarah, was a school teacher.

After her schooling in Ahmedabad, She was at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, as a student of Fine Arts and Art History. There she met Sankho Chaudhary, a sculptor, who taught her sculpture and Art History. After her graduation she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor in art history and art appreciation. She taught at the Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Fine Arts College, CEPT University and NIFT.

She started writing about art and became the Times of India art critic, a national English daily. Later she became a columnist for Femina, a women's magazine, the "Times of India" and other leading national dallies. She is an advisory editor of Eve Times, Ahmedabad. She has written several books. She had edited and contributed in some books also. Her books are related to Bene Israel Jews in Ahmedabad.

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) featured Shalom India Housing Society in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010–2011 calendar, which highlights 12 Jewish women authors across the world whose "writing illuminates a particular city". The title of the calendar was Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them.

Awards and recognition

 * Writer in Residence at Villa Mont Noir, France in 1999–2000.
 * Writer in Residence, Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs, Saint-Nazaire, France in 2001–2002.
 * Sahitya Akademi Award 2010 for The Book of Rachel.
 * Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2011 for "I am the seed of the Tree…," A Jewish woman’s search of her Jewish heritage in India.
 * Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2016 for Bene-Appetite (Research on Indian Jewish Food Traditions).