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{{short description|Indian Jewish author, artist and sculptor}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| image = Esther David.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption =
| name = Esther David
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1945|3|17}}
| birth_place = [[Ahmedabad]], [[Gujarat]], India
| occupation = Author, artist, sculptor
| nationality = Indian
| alma_mater = [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]]
| genre = Fiction, [[anthropology]]
| notableworks = ''[[Book of Rachel]]''
| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] 2010
| website = {{URL|http://estherdavid.com}}
}}

'''Esther David''' (born 17 March 1945) is an [[Indian Jewish]] author, an artist and a sculptor.<ref>{{cite book |author=Weil, Shalva |year=2008 |chapter=Esther David: The Bene Israel Novelist who Grew Up with a Tiger |editor1=Shulman, David |editor2=Weil, Shalva |title=Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India |location=New Delhi |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=232–253 |isbn= }}</ref> She is a recipient of the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]].

==Early life==
She was born into a [[Bene Israel]] Jewish family<ref>{{cite journal |author=Weil, Shalva |year=2012 |title=The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=43 |number=1 |pages=71–80 |issn= |doi= }}</ref> in [[Ahmedabad]], [[Gujarat]].<ref name="Paniker 2016">{{cite web | last=Paniker | first=Shruti| title=Come, visit my city | website=Ahmedabad Mirror | date=2016-02-14 | url=http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/others/sunday-read/Come-visit-my-city/articleshow/50978072.cms | access-date=2016-03-28}}</ref> She won [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 2010 for ''The Book of Rachel''.<ref name=x>{{cite news|title=City-based author wins Sahitya Akademi award|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/city-based-author-wins-sahitya-akademi-award-74232|access-date=6 October 2012|newspaper= www.ndtv.com|date=22 December 2010}}</ref>

Her father, [[Reuben David]], was a hunter-turned-veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and the Balvatika near [[Kankaria]] lake in Ahmedabad.<ref>{{cite book |author=Roland, Joan |year=2009 |chapter=The Contributions of the Jews of India |editor=Weil, Shalva |title=India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle |location=Mumbai |publisher=Marg Publications |orig-date=2002 |edition=3rd |pages= |isbn= }}</ref> Her mother, Sarah, was a school teacher.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite web |url=http://www.easternbookcorporation.com/moreinfo.php?txt_searchstring=12758 |title=My Father's Zoo |author=David, Esther |page=124 |isbn= }}</ref>

After her schooling in Ahmedabad, She was at [[Maharaja Sayajirao University]] of [[Baroda]], as a student of Fine Arts and Art History. There she met Sankho Chaudhary, a sculptor, who taught her sculpture and Art History.<ref name="x"/> After her graduation she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor in art history and art appreciation. She taught at the [[Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya|Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Fine Arts College]], [[CEPT University]] and [[National Institute of Fashion Technology|NIFT]].

She started writing about art and became the ''[[Times of India]]'' art critic, a national English daily. Later she became a columnist for [[Femina (India)|Femina]], a women's magazine, the "Times of India" and other leading national dallies. She is an advisory editor of Eve Times, Ahmedabad.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |title=Esther David Official |url=http://www.estherdavid.com/biography.html |access-date=5 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719073307/http://estherdavid.com/biography.html |archive-date=19 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She has authored several books; and also been an editor and contributor.<ref>{{cite book |author=David, Esther |year=2009 |chapter=Sari-Sutra: Bene Israel Costumes |editor=Weil, Shalva |title=India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle |location=Mumbai |publisher=Marg Publications |orig-date=2002 |edition=3rd |pages= |isbn= }}</ref> Her books are related to Bene Israel Jews in Ahmedabad.<ref name="x"/>

The [[Hadassah-Brandeis Institute]] (HBI) featured ''Shalom India Housing Society'' in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010–2011 calendar, which highlights 12 Jewish women authors across the world whose "writing illuminates a particular city". The title of the calendar was ''Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Esther David, Ahmedabad in US calendar on Jewish women writers |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Esther-David-Ahmedabad-in-US-calendar-on-Jewish-women-writers/articleshow/6627984.cms |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103124211/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-26/ahmedabad/28241184_1_calendar-city-women-writers |url-status=live |archive-date=3 January 2013 |access-date=6 October 2012 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |date=26 September 2010}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Ahmedabad: City with a Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lrOSCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT56|date=10 February 2016|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|isbn=978-93-5029-798-8}}
* ''The Walled City'' 1997 East West Books, Madras. Re-published by [[Syracuse University Press]] USA.<ref name="x"/>
* ''By the Sabarmati''<ref name="v">{{cite web|title=Esther David Books|url=http://www.estherdavid.com/books.html|access-date=5 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902205003/http://estherdavid.com/books.html|archive-date=2 September 2013|url-status=dead}} For a review, please refer to: Weil, Shalva. 2003 The Book of Esther by Esther David, reviewed in Biblio: A Review of Books, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 26.</ref>
*''The Book of Esther'' <ref name="v"/>
*''[[Book of Rachel]]'' <ref name="v"/>
*''My Father’s Zoo'' 2007 <ref name=autogenerated1 />
*''[[Shalom India Housing Society]]'' 2007<ref name="v"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Shalom India Housing Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJDxcBRscdUC|access-date=5 October 2012|isbn = 9781558616455|last1 = David|first1 = Esther|date = April 2009| publisher=The Feminist Press at CUNY }}</ref>
*''One Church, One All Jewish Faith, One God'' 2008 Media Creations, Inc.<ref>{{cite book|title=One Church, One All Jewish Faith, One God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Y7vNwAACAAJ|access-date=5 October 2012|isbn = 9781595269775|last1 = David|first1 = Esther|date = June 2008| publisher=Media Creations, Incorporated }}</ref>
*''The Man with Enormous Wings'' 2010 [[Penguin Books]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The Man with Enormous Wings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ypC6ZwEACAAJ|access-date=5 October 2012|isbn = 9780143066927|last1 = David|first1 = Esther|year = 2010| publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref>
*''Bombay Brides'' 2019, Harpercollins <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9789352779451/bombay-brides/|title = Bombay Brides}}</ref>
;Contributor
*''Sari Sutra'', contributed a chapter on [[Bene Israel]]i Jewish costumes.<ref>{{cite book |author=Weil, Shalva |year=2009 |chapter=The Heritage and Legacy of Indian Jews |editor=Weil, Shalva |title=India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle |location=Mumbai |publisher=Marg Publications |orig-date=2002 |edition=3rd |pages=8–21 |isbn= }}</ref>
*''City Stories'' "The Worry Box and The Laughing Lady" Scholastic India.<ref name="v"/>
*''Growing Up as a Woman Writer'' "Nanki Chirai" Sahitya Academy New Delhi.<ref name="v"/>
*''Gattu's Wildlife Adventures''<ref name="v"/>
;Editor
*''Ane Dhara Dhruji''<ref name="v"/>

==Awards and recognition==
*Writer in Residence at Villa Mont Noir, France in 1999–2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.m-e-l.fr/fiche-residence.php?id=3|title=Historique des bénéficiaires|website=Bienvenue sur le site de la maison des écrivains et de la littérature|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=24 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824145454/http://www.m-e-l.fr/fiche-residence.php?id=3|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Writer in Residence, Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs, Saint-Nazaire, France in 2001–2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.meetingsaintnazaire.com/Esther-David.html|title=Esther David|website=Meeting Saint Nazaire|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=18 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118175858/http://meetingsaintnazaire.com/Esther-David.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Sahitya Akademi Award]] 2010 for ''The Book of Rachel''.<ref name="x" /><ref>{{cite news|title=They are not on facebook|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplement/story/20110124-they-are-not-on-facebook-745528-2011-01-13|access-date=6 October 2012|newspaper= India Today|date=14 January 2011}}</ref>
*Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2011 for ''"I am the seed of the Tree…," A Jewish woman’s search of her Jewish'' ''heritage in India''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/grants/docs/research-2011winners.pdf|title=HBI Research Awards 2011|website=Hadassah-Brandeis Institute|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809115020/http://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/grants/docs/research-2011winners.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Research Award 2016 for ''Bene-Appetite (Research on Indian Jewish Food Traditions)''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/.../HBI%20Research%20Awards%202016.pdf|title=HBI Research Awards 2016|website=Hadassah-Brandeis Institute}}{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Indian writers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Weil, Shalva |year=2009 |chapter=Bene Israel Rites and Routine |editor=Weil, Shalva |title=India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle |location=Mumbai |publisher=Marg Publications |orig-date=2002 |edition=3rd |pages=78–89 |isbn= }} Reprinted in Marg: ''A Magazine of The Arts'', 54'''(2)''': 26–37.
* {{cite book |author=Weil, Shalva |chapter=Bene Israel |editor=Baskin, Judith Baskin |title=Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |page=59 |isbn= }}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.estherdavid.com/}}

{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|India|Literature|Art|Jew|Books}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Esther}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bene Israel]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Indian Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish women writers]]
[[Category:Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni]]
[[Category:Novelists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:Women writers from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Writers from Ahmedabad]]
[[Category:Jewish women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian sculptors]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women sculptors]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian sculptors]]
[[Category:Jewish sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women novelists]]

Esther David - Revision history

Globaleducollege at 04:38, 29 April 2026