Indian · b. 1961
Arundhati Roy won the 1997 Booker Prize for "The God of Small Things," her debut novel set in Kerala amid caste prejudice and forbidden love. Twenty years later, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" extended her vision to pan-Indian canvas. Between novels, Roy became India's most visible dissident, writing against nuclear weapons, dams, and Hindu nationalism. Her prose moves between lyrical beauty and political fury with equal conviction.