Ashok Banker
| Ashok K. Banker | |
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Ashok Banker and Kamal Haasan at the Ten Kings book launch in Chennai, November 2014
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| Born | Ashok Kumar Banker 7 February 1964 Mumbai, India |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | contemporary |
| Notable works |
Ten Kings (2014) Blood Red Sari (2012) Slayer of Kamsa (2009) Prince of Ayodhya (2003) Vertigo (1994) The Iron Bra (1992) |
| Spouse | Bithika Banker (m.1987) |
| Children | Ayushyoda Banker, Yashka Banker |
| Website | |
| akbebooks |
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Ashok Kumar Banker (born 7 February 1964 in Mumbai, India) is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and mythological retellings. The author of several well-received novels including a trilogy billed as "India's first crime novels in English", he became widely known for his retellings of Indian mythological epics, starting with the internationally acclaimed and best-selling eight-volume Ramayana Series, which has been credited with the resurgence of mythology in Indian publishing. The New York Times credited him with making mythology the most successful category in Indian publishing, describing his work as being "better written than many books in the genre that have followed – introduced the Ramayana to a new generation of readers." His books have sold over 2 million copies and have been published in 16 languages in 58 countries. His Epic India Library is an attempt to retell all the myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in one massive story cycle comprising over 70 volumes, "an epic library of India". He is frequently nominated and shortlisted as one of India's top thinkers and celebrities. The upcoming two-film adaptation of his Mahabharata is expected to be the biggest Indian film production to date.
It was Banker's British grandmother, May Agnes Smith, who effectively raised and supported him. May Agnes Smith had been born and raised in Ceylon. When that country achieved independence, all other members of her family chose to claim British citizenship and either return to the UK or migrate to other countries. May Agnes was the only member of her family to move to India. She married Mr. D'Souza, an Indian Christian from Goa, which was in those days a Portuguese territory. The couple settled in the neighbourhood of Byculla in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was then known.
It was in the same house in Byculla that Banker grew up, under the care of his grandmother. He has mentioned in interviews how she not only encouraged him to write but even financed the publication of his first book, a collection of his poetry titled Ashes in the Dust of Time, which he self-published at age 15, and which was selected to represent Young India at the World Book Fair in Paris. He also found early support from his school Principal, Miss Sophy Kelly, a prominent patron of the arts and leader of the Bene Israel Jewish community in Mumbai at the time. Among his first literary efforts was an ambitious play based on the Book of Revelations of St. John from the Bible, produced by Kelly and performed by Banker and other students at their high school auditorium, Hill Grange. The school itself was the alma mater of many prominent personalities.
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