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{{Short description|Indian writer (born 1959)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Jeet Thayil
| image = Jeet Thayil performing at Goobe's Book Republic, Bangalore.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Jeet Thayil at Goobe's Book Republic, [[Bangalore]].
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1959}}
| birth_place = Mamalassery, [[Kerala]], India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Author, Journalist, Poet, Musician, Guitarist
| language = English
| alma_mater = [[Sarah Lawrence College]] (MFA)
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008) 
''[[Narcopolis (book)|Narcopolis]]'' (2012) 
''Collected Poems'' (2015) 
''Names of the Women'' (2021)
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] [[DSC Prize for South Asian Literature]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.jeetthayil.com/}}
| portaldisp =
| relatives = [[T. J. S. George]] (father) [[Raj Mathai]] (cousin) [[Abraham Verghese]] (cousin)
}}
'''Jeet Thayil''' (born 1959) is an Indian poet,<ref>{{cite web|title=Sahitya Akademi : Who's Who of Indian Wiriters|url=http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/SASearchSystem/sauser/writerinfo.jsp?wrids=2832|website=Sahitya Akademi|access-date=27 October 2015}}</ref> novelist, librettist and musician. He is the author of several poetry collections, including ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008), which won the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]].<ref name="Pathak 2013"/> His first novel, ''[[Narcopolis (book)|Narcopolis]],'' (2012), won the [[DSC Prize for South Asian Literature]],<ref name=":1" /> and was shortlisted for the 2012 [[Man Booker Prize]]<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Pathak 2013">{{cite news |last1=Pathak |first1=Nilima |title=Jeet Thayil: derided at home, loved abroad |url=https://gulfnews.com/general/jeet-thayil-derided-at-home-loved-abroad-1.1140050 |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[Gulf News]] |date=January 13, 2013}}</ref> and [[Hindu Literary Prize|''The Hindu'' Literary Prize]].<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/jeet-thayil|title=Jeet Thayil - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org}}</ref>

==Biography==
Thayil was born in [[Kerala]], India.<ref name="Pathak 2013"/> His father is writer and editor [[T. J. S. George|Thayil Jacob Sony George]], and the family moved with his work.<ref name="Pathak 2013"/><ref name="Suman 2017">{{cite news |last1=Suman |first1=Saket |title=Writer Jeet Thayil was inspired by 'soothing sound' of his father's typewriter |url=https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/society/jeet-thayil-inspired-by-soothing-sound-of-father-typewriter.html |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Week (Indian magazine)|The Week]] |date=6 December 2017}}</ref> Thayil was raised in [[Mumbai]] until age 8, then moved to [[Hong Kong]], and returned to Mumbai at age 18 where he graduated from [[Wilson College, Mumbai|Wilson College]].<ref name="Pathak 2013"/> He later completed an MFA at [[Sarah Lawrence College]] in New York.<ref name="Pathak 2013"/> Until age 40, Thayil lived in Mumbai and [[Bengaluru]], and worked as a journalist in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hong Kong, and New York.<ref name="Pathak 2013"/>

In 2006, he told ''[[The Hindu]]'' that he had been an alcoholic and an addict for almost two decades.<ref>{{cite news|last=Roy|first=Nilanjana|title=Finding the words again|url=http://www.hindu.com/lr/2006/06/04/stories/2006060400020100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925011904/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2006/06/04/stories/2006060400020100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2006|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=4 June 2006}}</ref> He began using drugs after he returned to India at age 18.<ref name="Suman 2017" /> In 2013, he told ''[[Gulf News]]'' that he successfully quit at age 42.<ref name="Pathak 2013"/>

As a songwriter and guitarist, he is one half of the contemporary music project Sridhar/Thayil (Mumbai, New Delhi).<ref>{{cite news|last=Majumdar|first=Anushree|title=Note Worthy|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/noteworthy/334364/0|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=Indian Express|date=13 July 2008}}</ref>

==Writing career==
His first novel, ''[[Narcopolis (book)|Narcopolis]]'' (2012), is set mostly in Bombay in the 1970s and '80s, and sets out to tell the city's secret history, when opium gave way to new cheap heroin. Thayil has said he wrote the novel: "to create a kind of memorial, to inscribe certain names in stone. As one of the characters [in ''Narcopolis''] says, it is only by repeating the names of the dead that we honour them. I wanted to honour the people I knew in the opium dens, the marginalised, the addicted and deranged, people who are routinely called the lowest of the low; and I wanted to make some record of a world that no longer exists, except within the pages of a book."<ref name=mid/>

His other novels include ''The Book of Chocolate Saints'' (2017),<ref name="Burnside 2018">{{cite news |last1=Burnside |first1=John |title=The Book of Chocolate Saints by Jeet Thayil – portrait of a doomed genius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/07/the-book-of-chocolate-saints-by-jeet-thayil-review |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 March 2018}}</ref> ''Low'' (2020),<ref name="Doyle 2020">{{cite news |last1=Doyle |first1=Rob |title=Low by Jeet Thayil review – a lost weekend in Mumbai |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/23/low-by-jeet-thayil-review |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="Fullerton 2020">{{Cite news|last=Fullerton|first=Jamie|date=8 April 2020|title='Drugs Are a Vehicle to Look at Grief': Jeet Thayil on His New Book|work=VICE|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/drugs-are-a-vehicle-to-look-at-grief-jeet-thayil-on-his-new-book/|access-date=19 July 2020}}</ref> and ''Names of the Women'' (2021).<ref name="Theroux 2021">{{cite news |last1=Theroux |first1=Marcel |title=Names of the Women by Jeet Thayil review – Bible stories reclaimed |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/24/names-of-the-women-by-jeet-thayil-review-bible-stories-reclaimed |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=24 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Kelly 2021">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Stuart |title=Book review: Names of the Women, by Jeet Thayil |url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-names-of-the-women-by-jeet-thayil-3186276 |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Scotsman]] |date=April 1, 2021}}</ref> Thayil spent five years writing an 800-page draft of ''Narcopolis'', and then split the draft into the 300-page ''Narcopolis'' and his later novels ''The Book of Chocolate Saints'' and ''Low''.<ref name="Suman 2017" /><ref name="Fullerton 2020"/> The three novels form what Thayil sees as "Bombay Trilogy".<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.pressreader.com/india/ht-cafe/20200220/281801400982420 |access-date=2025-05-09 |via=PressReader}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeet Thayil |url=https://www.penguin.co.in/book_author/thayil-jeet/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Penguin Random House India |language=en-US}}</ref>

His poetry collections include ''Gemini'' (1992), ''Apocalypso'' (1997), ''English'' (2004), ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008),<ref name="Pathak 2013" /> and ''Collected Poems'' (2015).<ref name="Subramaniam 2016">{{cite news |last1=Subramaniam |first1=Arundhathi |title=Fluid words |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/arundhathi-subramaniam-reviews-jeet-thayils-collected-poems/article8227574.ece |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=February 13, 2016}}</ref><ref name="King">{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Bruce |title=Book Review: Collected Poems of Jeet Thayil |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/FSZ4Vd29tQ6ttwomKDIF4M/Book-Review-Collected-Poems-by-Jeet-Thayil.html |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |date=9 January 2016}}</ref> In 2016, he was the Arts Queensland Poet-In-Residence.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cathcart |first1=Michael |last2=Kirkham |first2=Sky |title=Queensland Poetry Festival: Jeet Thayil |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/booksandarts/qpf_jeetthayil/7719606 |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] |date=17 August 2016}}</ref>

Thayil is the editor of the ''Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets'' ([[Bloodaxe Books|Bloodaxe]], UK, 2008), ''60 Indian Poets'' (Penguin India, 2008) and a collection of essays, ''Divided Time: India and the End of Diaspora'' ([[Routledge]], 2006). His poetry is included in ''Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry'' (United States, 2015).<ref>{{cite web|title=Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry|url=http://bigbridge.org/BB17/poetry/indianpoetryanthology/Jeet_Thayil.html|publisher=BigBridge.Org|access-date=9 June 2016}}</ref>

He is the author of the libretto for the opera ''Babur in London'', commissioned by the UK-based Opera Group with music by the Zürich-based British composer [[Edward Rushton (composer)|Edward Rushton]].<ref name=opera>{{cite web|title=Babur in London |url=http://www.theoperagroup.co.uk/?p=1237 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412014029/http://www.theoperagroup.co.uk/?p=1237 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 April 2012 |publisher=The Opera Group |access-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref> The world premiere of ''Babur'' took place in Switzerland in 2012, followed by tours to the United Kingdom (performed at theatres in London and Oxford) and India. At the work's core is an exploration about the complexities of faith and multiculturalism in modern-day Britain. Its action hinges on an imagined encounter between a group of religious fundamentalists and the ghost of Babur, who challenges their plans for a suicide strike.<ref name=opera/>

==Awards and honours==
In 2012, Thayil's poetry collection ''These Errors are Correct'' was awarded the [[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for English|Sahitya Akademi Award for English]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Jeet Thayil among 24 selected for Sahitya Akademi Awards|url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/jeet-thayil-among-24-selected-for-sahitya-akademi-awards/article4222947.ece|newspaper=The Hindu|date=21 December 2012}}</ref> He was shortlisted for the [[Man Booker Prize 2012]] and [[The Hindu Literary Prize|''The Hindu'' Literary Prize]] (2013) for his debut novel ''[[Narcopolis (book)|Narcopolis]]''.<ref name=":0">{{cite news| url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/jeet-thayil-on-man-booker-shortlist/article3887005.ece|first=Hasan|last=Suroor|title=Jeet Thayil on Man Booker Prize shortlist|work=[[The Hindu]] |date=12 September 2012}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/the-hindu-literary-prize-goes-to-jerry-pinto/article4425328.ece |title=The Hindu Literary Prize goes to Jerry Pinto |work=The Hindu |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |date=17 February 2013 |access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref> In 2013, Thayil became the first Indian author to win the [[DSC Prize for South Asian Literature]], worth $50,000, for the novel ''Narcopolis''.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/25/jeet-thayil-south-asian-literature-prize |title=Jeet Thayil becomes first Indian winner of South Asian literature prize |work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Richard |last=Lea |date=25 January 2013 |access-date=26 January 2013}}</ref>

==Style==

The Indian poet [[Dom Moraes]], in his introduction to Thayil's first book of poems (with poet Vijay Nambisan), ''Gemini'', said that Thayil did not trouble his mind with the concerns of many Indian poets, their Indianness, that he did not make statements that were irrelevant to his work, that his concerns were mainly personal. Thayil, Moraes said, "works his feelings out with care, through colourations of mood rather than through explicit statements."<ref>{{cite book|title=Gemini|year=1992|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-84524-8|author=Jeet Thayil|author2=Vijay Nambisan}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Brownjohn|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Brownjohn|title=Dom Moraes|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jun/04/guardianobituaries.india|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 June 2004}}</ref>

About ''Narcopolis'', Thayil said, "I've always been suspicious of the novel that paints India in soft focus, a place of loved children and loving elders, of monsoons and mangoes and spices. To equal Bombay as a subject you would have to go much further than the merely nostalgic will allow. The grotesque may be a more accurate means of carrying out such an enterprise."<ref name=mid>{{cite news|last=Ratnam|first=Dhamini|title=The history of Mumbai no one told you|url=http://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/2012/jan/150112-The-history-of-Mumbai-no-one-told-you.htm|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=Mid-Day|date=15 January 2012}}</ref>

Thayil, writes a reviewer for Indian Book Critics, is good when he writes without personal exertions (review for Collected Poems).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mishra |first1=Amit |title=Collected Poems by Jeet Thayil – Book Review |url=https://indianbookcritics.in/poetry/collected-poems-by-jeet-thayil-book-review/ |website=Indian Book Critics |date=4 April 2020 |access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

===Poetry===
*''Collected Poems'', [[Aleph Book Company]], New Delhi, 2015. {{ISBN|978-9384067434}}
*''These Errors Are Correct'', Tranquebar Books (EastWest and Westland), Delhi, 2008. {{ISBN|978-8189975425}}
*''English'', [[Penguin Books]], New Delhi and Rattapallax Press, New York, 2004. {{ISBN|1-892494-59-0}}
*''Apocalypso'', Aark Arts, London, 1997, {{ISBN|1-899179-01-1}}
*''Gemini'', [[Viking Press|Penguin-Viking]], New Delhi, 1992. (two-poet volume ), {{ISBN|0-670-84524-8}}

===Fiction===
*''[[Narcopolis (book)|Narcopolis]]'', [[Faber and Faber]], London, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-571-27576-2}}
*''The Book of Chocolate Saints'', [[Aleph Book Company|Aleph]], 2017, {{ISBN|978-9386021038}}
*''Low'', [[Faber and Faber]], 2020, {{ISBN|978-0571360727}}
*''Names of the Women'', [[Jonathan Cape]], 2021, {{ISBN|978-1787332928}}
*''The Elsewhereans: A Documentary Novel'', 23 June 2025, {{ISBN|978-9369897797}}

===As an editor===
*''The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets'', [[Bloodaxe Books|Bloodaxe]] UK, 2008 {{ISBN|1-85224-801-7}}
*''60 Indian Poets'', [[Penguin Books|Penguin India]], 2008 {{ISBN|978-0143064428}}
*''Divided Time: India and the End of Diaspora'', [[Routledge]], 2006
*''Give the Sea Change and It Shall Change'': 56 Indian Poets, Fulcrum, 2005
*''Vox2: Seven Stories'', Sterling Newspapers, India, 1997

{{commons category}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}
*[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/09/jeet-thayil-interview-man-booker-narcopolis-book-chocolate-saints Jeet Thayil: 'I have a liver condition, I'm reckless and I'm very aware that time is limited']

{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thayil, Jeet}}
[[Category:English-language Indian poets]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Indian male novelists]]
[[Category:Poets from Kerala]]
[[Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Indian male musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Kerala]]
[[Category:People educated at Island School]]
[[Category:Indian male essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian male writers]]

Jeet Thayil - Revision history

SwagataDash at 15:54, 16 October 2025