Namita Gokhale is the author of 25 works of fiction and non-fiction. Her oeuvre spans various genres including novels, short stories, Himalayan studies, mythology, anthologies, books for young readers and a play. She speaks to Georgina Godwin about her childhood, illustrious career and being the recipient of many awards. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Meet the Writers.
I'm Georgina Godwin.
My guest today is the award winning author of 25 works of fiction and nonfiction.
Her oeuvre spans different genres including novels, short stories, Himalayan studies, mythology, anthologies, books for young readers and a play.
Her debut novel Dreams of passion published in 1984 has been reissued as a Penguin modern classic.
Life Niffin Mars Collected short Stories will be published in December 2025.
She's the co founder and co director of the Jaipur Literature Festival.
She's committed to platforming literary dialogue and showcasing the rich diversity of multilingual Indian identity.
Namita Gokale, welcome to meet the writer.
Namita.
You are in the middle of an extraordinary life and I want to go back to the beginning.
You were born in Uttar Pradesh.
I was born in Lucknow, which is the capital city of uttar Pradesh in 1956, which seems a long time ago on 26 January, which is Republic Day in India.
And I was named Republica.
And it's not a nice name to carry around and I'm very glad that they changed it.
When I was a little few months old they change it from Republica to Namhita, which is very inappropriate.
Namhita is the polite one and I am not famous for being polite but well, at least it's a nice name.
You come from a long line of illustrious writers.
You were brought up by your aunts and your grandmother.
Yes, I was brought up by my aunts and my grandmother in a place called Nenital which is high in the mountains.