Ananda Devi

Ananda Devi Nirsimloo-Anenden, also known as Ananda Devi, (born March 23, 1957) is a Mauritian author writing in French. She is the 2024 recipient of the Neustadt Prize, known as the "American Nobel." Ananda Devi Nirsimloo was born in Trois-Boutiques, a village in Grand Port District, Mauritius. Her father Balgopal and her mother Saraswaty were Indo-Mauritians of Telugu ancestry. She grew up with her two sisters Soorya and Salonee. At the age of 15, she won a prize in a Radio France Internationale short story competition. She went on to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she obtained a PhD in Social Anthropology. In 1977, she published her début collection of short stories, Solstices. After spending several years in Brazzaville in the Congo, she moved to Ferney-Voltaire in 1989, the same year in which her first novel Rue la poudrière was published. This was followed by more novels: Le Voile de Draupadi in 1993, L'Arbre fouet in 1997 and, in 2000, Moi, l'interdite, which received the Prix Radio France du Livre de l'Océan Indien.Her novel Eve de ses décombres won the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie in 2006, as well as several other prizes, and was adapted for the cinema by Sharvan Anenden and Harrikrisna Anenden. She has since won other literary prizes, including the Prix Louis Guilloux for Le Sari vert, the Prix Ouest France Étonnants Voyageurs for Manger l'autre, and, the Prix Femina des lycéens. for Le rire des déesses. For the totality of her work, she received the Prix du Rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature française of the Académie française, and in 2010 she was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. In 2023, she was awarded both the Prix_de_la_langue_française and the Neustadt Prize, cementing her reputation as a leading voice in French and world letters.

Devi is married to the film director Harrikrisna Anenden.