Anita and Me
Kindle edition cover
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| Author | Meera Syal |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Genre | Comedy-Drama |
| Publisher | New Press (UK) |
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Publication date
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April 1st 1997 / June 1st 1999 by New Press |
| Pages | 336 pages Paperback |
| ISBN | (US) / (UK) |
Anita and Me is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel which won the Betty Trask Award.
The story revolves around Meena, a British Punjabi girl (the "me" of the title), and her relationship with her English neighbour Anita as they grow up in the fictional Midlands village of Tollington in the 1970s.
It is used as a GCSE set text for an English literature examination provided by examination boards AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC.
The novel was made into a film of the same name in 2002, in which Meera Syal appears as Meena's Auntie Shaila. Syal also wrote the screenplay for the film. The film starred Chandeep Uppal and Anna Brewster.
The story follows young Meena Kumar, a girl who would be considered very normal by today's standards, and the life she lives with her parents in Tollington, near Birmingham. One seemingly ordinary day, her life is turned upside down by Anita Rutter, played by Anna Brewster. Meena is a brilliant character, with a wise head on young shoulders but one who retains a childlike exuberance. An aspiring writer, Meena pines for some of the breaks that white children had; upon patronisingly being asked "what do you want to be when you grow up", Meena replies "blonde".
The novel was adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre where it premiered on 9 October and ran until 24 October 2015. It was followed by a transfer to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East from 29 October to 21 November 2015. The production was directed by artistic director Roxanna Silbert and starred Jalleh Alizadeh as Anita, Amy Booth-Steel as Mrs Ormerod / Deidre, Ameet Chana as Shyam, Janice Connolly as Mrs Worrall, Ayesha Dharker as Daljit, Mandeep Dhillon as Meena, Joseph Drake as Sam, Kiren Jogi as Aunty Shaila / Fortune Teller, Megan McCormick as Tracey / Sandy, Tarek Merchant as Ned / Bazzer, Chris Nayak as Uncle Amman / Mr Bhatra and Yasmin Wilde as Nanima / Mrs Lowbridge.
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Wikipedia