User:Alexanderraju/Indian English Novelists/Alexander Raju

Alexander Raju (b. 1952, Kottayam, Kerala, India) Indian English Novelist, Poet and Critic Early Life, Education and Career: Dr. Alexander Raju, Indian English novelist, poet and critic was born on April 1st, 1952. He began his career as a freelance journalist as early as 1974, after completing his higher studies in the Universities of Kerala and Saugar, Madhya Pradesh. He toured almost every nook and corner of India and acquired a firsthand knowledge of the Indian ways of life among various ethnic groups who differed totally in their culture, religion and language. When Sikkim became the twenty-second State of India, he joined the staff of Sikkim Express as one of its sub-editors and later became the editor of Bullet, a newsweekly published from Gangtok. To quote his own words from the acknowledgments of his first novel, The Haunted Man: A decade of my wanderings through the length and breadth of India and my not too brief sojourn in the Himalayan Valley gave me an everlasting mine of ideas and a continuous source of inspiration that would last a whole lifespan of a creative writer. In 1979, he returned to his native state of Kerala, where he worked as a lawyer for a short while. In 1981, he joined the faculty of English at Baselius College, Kottayam, his own alma mater, as a lecturer. He serves as Research Guide under Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. For three years, from 1996 to 1999, he served as Inspector of English, giving training to English teachers in the Sultanate of Oman, and from 2006 to 2009, he served as Associate Professor of English in Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. Currently he is Professor of English in Al Fateh University, Tripoli, Libya. Bibliography: Alexander Raju, an Indian English critic, poet, novelist, short story writer and columnist, has many books to his credit. Ripples and Pebbles (1989), Sprouts of Indignation (2003) and Magic Chasm (2007) are collections of his poems. His first novel The Haunted Man came out in 1997. Belivediyile Thirikal (Candles on the Altar, 1985) and Adaminte Mukhangal ( Many Faces of Adam,1991) are two collections of short stories in Malayalam, published by Christian Literature Society, Thiruvalla. His second novel Upon This Bank and Shoal (2007) is published by CCB Publishers, Canada, who also brought out a second edition of The Haunted Man in 2008. Poles Apart on the Same Bed (2011) is a collection of his short stories. Two other novels, And Still Plays the Abyssinian Damsel on her Dulcimer and When Babel Tower is Falling Down, are in print. The Psycho-Social Interface in British Fiction (2000) is a critical work and he edited The Voice of Ethiopia in 2008. Online References: www. ccbpublishing.com/araju.html www.flipkart.com/AlexanderRaju www.fineartamerica.com/AlexanderRaju www.wikipedia/indianenglishpoets www.chowk.com/articles/17910