Madhu Rye

Madhu Rye
Madhu Rye, April 2016
Born	Madhusudan Vallabhdas Thaker 1942 Jamkhambhaliya, Gujarat
Occupation	Playwright, novelist and story writer
Language	Gujarati
Nationality	United States
Education	Bachelor of Arts
Alma mater	Scottish Church College (1958―1960) University of Calcutta (1963)
Notable awards	Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak (1999)
Spouse	Suvarna Bhatt (m. 1974–89)
Relatives	Vallabhdas (father) Vijayaben (mother)
Signature

Madhu Rye (Gujarati: મધુ રાય) is a Gujarati playwright, novelist and story writer. Born in Gujarat and educated at Calcutta, he started writing in the 1960s and became known for his stories and plays. His experience at the University of Hawaii introduced him to experimental writing and improvisations as writing aid, which later lead to a movement against absurd theatre. He moved to the US in 1974 and has been since living there. He chiefly wrote novels, short stories and plays. His plays were successful and have been adapted into several languages and media. He has adapted his novels into plays and some plays into novels. The most notable is Kimble Ravenswood which later was loosely adapted into a Hindi TV series and a Hindi film, What's Your Rashee?.

Madhusudan Vallabhdas Thaker (Gujarati: મધુસૂદન વલ્લભદાસ ઠાકર) was born in 1942 in Jamkhambhaliya, Gujarat to Vallabhdas and Vijayaben. He completed his primary and secondary education in Calcutta. He studied Intermediate Science at Scottish Church College in Calcutta from 1958 to 1960. He did his Bachelor of Arts from University of Calcutta in 1963. He started out by translating short stories of Gujarati writer Shivkumar Joshi, in Hindi, under the pen name Madhu Rye.

Rye was encouraged by Shivkumar Joshi and Chandrakant Bakshi to write his own short stories. He taught for a brief period and worked in a machinery concern for few years. He wrote his first short story for a contest under the pen name Madhu Rye and won second prize. He moved to Ahmedabad in 1967 and joined Navneetlal and Co. as a marketing writer.